The Fighters
by pdshalstud
Summary: AU. They didn't need anyone to fight their battles for them, but it made things easier with each other there to fight along side them. Always.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Ok so I'm really new at this, but I hope you guys enjoy my stories. Please review, let me know your thoughts on whether I should continue this or not. Thank You halsteadpd on Tumblr for helping me out, as I've said before I really appreciate all your advice. Thanks babes and I hope you have a great weekend. This is just the Prologue. Enjoy :)**

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Hank and Camille Voight had been married 22 years. Hank was a Detective with the Chicago Police Department, and Camille was a middle school teacher. They've lived in a three bedroom house at the end of the block in a quaint neighborhood just within the city limits of Chicago for 21 years. They have always been very close to their next door neighbors. The Halsteads, Patrick a pharmacist, and Linda a nurse had been married for roughly the same amount of time as the Voights, and had moved in next door just months after them. Given that the Voights and Halsteads were so close; their children formed a close friendship from a very young age. The Voights had twins Justin Scott and Erin Lindsay who had just turned 13, and the Halsteads had two boys Will who was 15, and Jay who was just a few months older than the twins. They did everything together good and bad. One of their favorite things to do was go down to the neighborhood park on their bikes, and play any kind of sport imaginable. As they grew older Will, grew more distant. Leaving the younger three to become the best of friends. Life was good for them, all of them on their little corner of the world, for now.

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That pure bliss didn't last for much longer though. Camille had been diagnosed with terminal cancer about 11 months ago. She had gone through chemotherapy and radiation just to prolong the inevitable. There was no more prolonging it now, Camille was dying. She fought as hard as she could. She wanted to there for her babies. She wanted to be here, continuing to guide them, and watch them grow. See Justin score a game winning point, and Erin fall in love. She wanted to hold them, when they get injured in a game, or get their heart broken for the first time. She wanted to watch them graduate high school, and college. Watch them get married, and give her grandbabies. She wanted to be here for all of that, but she couldn't. And that broke her; it broke her more than the idea of her dying. She didn't want to leave them, or miss anything. She with the help of her husband made videos, and wrote letters for her babies for each big occasion she could think of that she would miss. And just 15 months after she'd been diagnosed Camille Voight had passed away. Justin and Erin both took the death of their mother hard, understandably so. She was the glue in their family, and now that she was gone, and there was no one holding them together, Hank buried himself in his work, and Erin and Justin just grew apart, the three of them were still present, but there was a distance between that wasn't there before.

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It was the end of the May, and just over a year since the death of their mother. Both of them had submersed themselves in school, sports, and their friends. Their freshman year was just about to come to an end. It went well for Justin and Jay, and how could it not, when you're the stars of the soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. They were even both promised to be on Varsity as sophomores. Both were extremely popular, and each had girlfriends. They were living every high school guys dream. Erin played volleyball and was on track and field. Her best friends were Kim who also happened to be Justin's girlfriend, and Annie, both of them were on the volleyball team with her. Erin was also pretty popular; she just hung out with a different crowd than her brother. She had a boyfriend Charlie, he was 17 and in the same grade as Will. Erin knew he wasn't a good guy, but the fact that her dad and brother didn't approve of him, made her want to be with him even more. Plus he got her nice things, and for the most part treated her well. Little did she know it would all come with a price. Which Charlie intended for her to pay over the course of their summer vacation.

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So far Erin was enjoying her time off, doing normal teenage things. Hanging out with her friends, going swimming at the neighborhood park, and going to the drive in. She'd even hung out with Justin and Jay one day. A week after school had ended, Jay and Justin had asked Will to take them to the Navy Pier to meet up with a big group of friends. There was the Dawson's Antonio, and Gabby, Kim, Annie, Kelly Severide, Matt Casey and Jay's on-again off-again girlfriend Allie. Right now they were supposedly taking a "break". Just minutes before they were going to head out, Justin popped his head in her room and asked if she wanted to come with. She was supposed to be hanging out with Charlie, but he blew her off. So she accepted her brother's invitation. It was nice catching up with them. Erin hadn't realized how much she missed hanging out with them. Even though they went to the same school, Erin and the two guys that she once considered to be her best friends had really drifted apart. And she could get use to doing stuff with them again. But Charlie had other plans for her.

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Charlie was becoming increasingly possessive and controlling. She thought about breaking up with him, and actually came really close. Before Charlie said he would ruin her if she left him, saying was the one calling the shots. So being naïve and scared of what he would do she stuck with him, until she could find her way out from under him. She thought about talking to her dad, but that would mean owning up to the fact that he was right all along. So she kept her head down, until she could pay off this invisible debt to Charlie. Or until she could get help, but she would have never guessed who would be the one to come, and give it to her, when she needed it most.

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 **I'm already starting the first chapter I hope to have it done by Monday, but I have a really busy weekend ahead so we'll see. Please Review :)**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He had her be the lookout for cops, when he'd meet up with his supplier. It had started out as just a few times here and there over the last couple of weeks. But recently it has increased to being more frequent, as in 3 to 4 times a week, at all different times of the day, but he had always had her home before her curfew. So she was shocked to wake up to a text from him saying he needed her right that minute, and he was waiting outside. She decided instead of texting him back and forth, she'd just call him. He picked up, and she immediately started to ramble.

"Charlie are you crazy? what in the hell? I can't leave right now it's….midnight. No way in hell my dad will let me leave. Why would you think it's ok to come to my house at this time? My dad will literally kill you if he sees you-."

He cuts her off "relax, he'll never even know you were gone, you can just climb out your window, and then when we get back, I'll help you get back in. And he's not going to kill me, cause I'm down the block."

Letting out a sigh, she'd throw on a hoodie, and begin to slowly open her bedroom window, careful not have it rattle too much or make too much noise. As she was climbing out, she bumped her head, and somehow cracked the glass. One thin, but noticeable crack now adorned her window. She stood on the awning that was attached to their house, just below her bedroom window. She thought about just climbing back in but figured she was already out, mine as well go with him, and figure out how she was going to pay to fix the window. So she jumped off the awning, and onto to the ground. Stumbling a little, she steadied herself, before she made her way down the block to where he was parked, and hopped into the passenger seat, being met by a cloud of cigarette smoke. They quickly drove off. She didn't know which smell was worse the cigarette, or the smell of stale beer, that hung heavily in the air of the some what new blacked out midsize sedan. She rolled down her window a little hoping to clear the horrific stench that currently occupied her nostrils. When they arrived, she remained seated in the passenger seat, and she thought of ways she could pay for the window. She wasn't old enough to get a job yet, and even though her 15th Birthday was less than a month away she didn't want to risk her dad seeing the crack, and him grounding her until the end of time. She thought about asking her brother but she knew he wouldn't have that kind of money either. So she returned to the thought of applying for jobs, she start looking as soon as possible but for the mean time she resorted to asking Charlie to loan her the money until she could get a job, and pay him back. The window was broke because of him technically, so he owed her. After she made her decision about the window, she began to wonder what was taking so long, as she glanced down at her phone, she realized it had been 45 minutes since they arrived. These little meet ups had never taken longer than 15 to 20 minutes. If she hadn't been so scared of what Charlie would have done, she would have gone in to see what was going on. After another 15 minutes, she thought about walking home, after looking at her surroundings a bit more, she figured out where they were, and it was only about a 20 minute walk to her house. Just as she was about to leave, Charlie re-appeared from inside the abandoned house. He slowly made his way back down the dark path, surrounded with all sorts of weeds, that lead from the street to the single story home, that looked as if it hadn't been taken care of in a good year or two. It was red brick, with off white shillings, one of which was crooked to the side, looking like it was going to fall off at moment now. She was snapped out of it, when the car door to her left started to open.

"Charlie my dad is going to kill me." Erin screamed in a panic glancing down at her phone again. As Charlie climbed into the drivers seat.

"What the hell took so long?" Screaming at him again, and it set him off. Erin has always known Charlie to be a hot-head, and it didn't take much to make him mad. She'd once seen him start a fist fight with a guy, whose backpack ripped, papers flying everywhere, poor guy was so frustrated, but Charlie got pissed at him for being in his way in the hall. He's screamed at her, or got in her face if he didn't like her tone, or she didn't do something immediately. But he has never gotten physical with her. So when he grabbed her at the back of the neck, she froze and whimpered, afraid of what he might do. The look in his eyes sent chills down her spine. Realizing how tense he made her, he let go quickly, but he was now yelling at her

"That's none of your damn business, and don't ask me shit like that ever again. I don't even know why you're having a shit fit, he'll only be mad if he finds out. If, if he finds out, well then you're screwed." He let's out a little chuckle, and she just rolls her eyes, and push herself up against the car door, to try to keep herself as far away from him as possible. Knowing now was not the time to ask him to borrow money. She just kept quiet as they drove back to her house. He asks if she still needs his help getting back in

"No, I'll figure it out, you can just drop me off and leave." She spits at him before opening the door, as she was about to close it, he began to apologize, she didn't really want to hear it, so she just closed the door. He sat there for a few seconds before he sped off. Once she finally got into her house through the open kitchen window, she grabbed a glass of water, just in case her dad, saw or heard her walking back to her room, she'd have an excuse as to why she was in the kitchen, and she made her back to bed. She couldn't fall asleep right away. So she just laid there staring at the ceiling. Then she'd look at the window. After tonight she definitely wasn't going to ask Charlie for the money, so she thought she'd just try her job plan, and she'd think of an excuse to give her dad should he notice the crack. Her last thought, before she finally fell asleep, was how she was going to get rid of her nuisance of a boyfriend.

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 **Sorry if this sucked, I tried. I know I said I wasn't going to update until tomorrow, or Monday, but I haven't really been able to sleep the last couple days, so here we are. Please review, let me know your thoughts. Thanks Babes. :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok so first off, I'm going to apologize for starting this story then abandoning it for so long. I hope that you aren't too upset with me for my absence, I have good reasons I promise. I also hope that I can continue writing new chapters for this story and that you'll stick with me for it. So without further a due I present to you Chapter 2. This chapter takes place the morning after Erin sneaks out to be Charlie's lookout. Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, and I hope you leave some more after this one, and I'll try my best to update soon. Much Love babes**.

Chapter 2: He Has a Guy for Everything

She was woken the next morning by the obnoxious sound of one of her neighbor's lawn mowers. She groaned, pulling her comforter, and one of her six pillows over her head in a feeble attempt to block out the noise coming from outside. She lays there for a moment before deciding it was a lost cause, she wasn't getting anymore sleep right now. She slowly lowers the comforter and pillow, and starts to sit up. She looked at her window shaking her head, as her eyes catch the crack, reminding her of last night's events. She was hoping it was a dream, praying that she didn't actually give into Charlie again, or that she didn't actually break her window. Erin's broken away from her thoughts by someone knocking on her door, before it is cautiously opened, revealing her brother. As she turns her head more towards him, she can already tell he's in a very chipper mood for him at this time in the morning. Justin's the first to speak out of the two of them, saying "Morning sis!" In sing-song voice.

"Ugh, how are you in such a good mood right now?" Erin replies

"Maybe because I didn't sneak out of the house in the middle of the night." Justin chuckles as he watches the shocked expression that takes over his sisters face.

"Relax sis, he didn't know you were gone, I saw you leaving when I got up to go take a piss, but he was passed out in his room, no way he would of saw you."

Erin let's out a sigh, as relief washes over her entire body.

Justin chuckles again, "You didn't think he knew about it did you? cause you know he would have been trailing you guys, then dragging you back home as soon as you got to where you were going to, or he would of been sitting in the kitchen waiting for you to get back, if he did in fact know. So nice job sis, you managed to get away with it." Erin just shrugged, the slightest of smirks taking over her face.

"Now as a reward for not ratting you out, could you make us some breakfast, I'm starving."

Erin rolls her eyes, "if I wasn't so hungry myself, I most definitely wouldn't, so you're lucky."

Justin returns the eye roll, as they start to walk down the hall towards the stairs of their house "Oh yeah I'm the lucky one, you're the one who snuck out of the house, to go somewhere with your drug dealer boyfriend, stayed out for what an hour and a half, snuck back in, and didn't get caught by our Detective father. Right, I'm the lucky one. Not to mention cracking your bedroom window in the process of sneaking out."

Erin stopped in her tracks, "Ok how did you know about the window?"

"Relax, I only noticed it because you were staring at it when I got to your room, but it's not that noticeable, unless of course you STARE at it. How do you plan on fixing that?"

Erin shrugs again, "I don't know I was hoping to figure that out today while dad's at work, you wouldn't happen to have any suggestions, would you?" She lets out a little laugh not expecting him to actually respond. As they continue their journey to the kitchen, she looks out the front window, stopping at the bottom of the stairs, at a loss for words for the second time in the last 5 minutes. She sees him, wearing the baseball hat that never seems to leave his head, it's backwards, but she knows it's his favorite hat. He's attempting to restart the lawn mower, an action that causes his arms to flex, his legs also flex, as he gets it started again, and continues to push it back and forth on his lawn, some bright green tiny flecks of grass sticking to the dark hair of his muscular legs. He must of really been hitting up the gym a lot, cause his body is that of a God, she thinks to herself. He's shirtless, showcasing his perfectly sculpted abs, his smooth sweat covered skin glistens in the early morning sun, his basketball shorts hanging dangerously low, giving her a view of the perfect v that adorns the bottom of his torso. Erin had never thought about her life long friend in THAT way, she never had a inpure thought about him whatsoever but as she watched him continue on with his chore, she couldn't help the feelings that coursed through her body, feelings she had never had before, not even about Charlie. Erin once again gets broken from her thoughts by her brother. "HELLOO, earth to Erin." He says waving his hand in front of her face. "Did you hear anything I just said to you, or were you to busy drooling over my best friend?"

"I was not drooling!" Erin all but snaps, her face heating up quickly, as she blushes, realizing she's been caught.

"Erin, I actually contemplated going to get you a towel to clean your face and the floor with, but then I realized I'd need to grab the whole closet of towels, for the amount of drooling you were doing."

Erin once again rolled her eyes at her brother, "Whatever I was not drooling."

"Ok whatever you say sis, but you were."

"Justin what were you saying before."

"Right before you started to undress him the rest of the way with your eyes."

Erin interrupts him "UGHH, I don't know why I put up with you."

Justin chuckles for what seems like the hundredth time this morning, "well first you put up with me because you love me, but also because I'm the only reason you're not going to get locked up in the cage at the 21st until the end of time, and I was saying I might know someone that has a guy for everything, and I'll ask him, my only request for now though is that you make me some food."

"Ok I'll make some food." Erin says as she opens the fridge, looking at the contents in attempt to think of what to make.

"So what makes you this guy who has a guy for everything can help?"

"Well he seems to have a guy for everything, a construction guy, a car guy, even though he doesn't have a car yet? I'm sure he can help us out."

Erin hums "mmm, so who is this guy that supposedly has a guy for everything?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Justin replies

"No, I asked because I didn't actually want to know." Erin says sarcastically

"Haha, very funny. Well this guy who has a guy for everything, is the same guy you were just drooling over and undressing with your eyes minutes ago." Justin says holding up a yellow placemat in front of his face to block the piece of bread that Erin throws at his head.

"Jay?"

"Nooo the other guy you nearly flooded the house over." Justin so naturally replies as he walks out the kitchen to go watch some TV, while he waits for her to finishing making them breakfast.

"Jay?" Erin says quietly to herself as the bacon starts to sizzle in the frying pan. Maybe when they're done with their breakfast she can go ask him if he in fact does have a guy for everything.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** **As promised here's Chapter 3. This chapter again picks up right where the last one ended. I hope you enjoy it, I also hope everyone is having a great week so far, and that you have a great weekend as well. Please leave reviews or asks. I love to hear what you think, thank you and as always Much Love**.

Chapter 3

Erin was daydreaming, as she drank her coffee. She was hoping the tan liquid that she doctored up just how her mom would of taken it, with three spoonfuls of sugar, and a dash of cream, would jump start her morning. She was still planning on going over to ask Jay if he knows someone that can fix her window. Erin was nervous, she didn't know if it because of how she was feeling before when she saw him mowing his lawn, or because of the fact that she still didn't know how she would pay for it, but she was extremely nervous. While she got lost in her thoughts, she had finished her cup of coffee. She headed over to the sink, to place the blue Chicago police department mug in it to soak, reminding herself to clean up later. She made her way upstairs to take a shower, and get ready for the day. A little over a half hour later, and Erin was dressed in a maroon tank top, and a pair of black jean shorts, with a hole in the back right pocket. She left her hair down, natural waves taking over her sandy blonde hair, she's never been one for much makeup, but felt like applying a little today. She grabbed her phone, and started to walk towards the stairs. She was about half down the long dimly lit hallway, when her brother stepped in front of her.

"Hey you're FINALLY done getting all dolled up. Where are you headed?" Justin asks

"I'm going to go talk to Jay."

"OOOOH." He dramatically replies "I see what's happening here."

"And what would that be?" Erin questions with a roll of her eyes.

"You have a thing for him!" Justin says with a smirk

Erin quickly replies "In case you forgot I have a boyfriend."

"That's not a no!" He pauses for a moment, gauging his sisters reaction "You totally have a thing for Jay."

"No, I don't Justin, so drop it."

"It's too late, you can't deny it now, and for the record I don't totally approve of you having a thing for my best friend, but I know he'd be better for you than Charlie. Do you want me to feel him out for you?" Justin says

"I mean if that's your thing is to "feel out" your best friend, that's cool, I'll be sure to let Kim down nice and easy for you. I think she'll be awfully disappointed though." Erin quickly remarks, as her brother playfully swats her shoulder.

"Haha very funny, but you know that's not what I meant." Justin says less than amused

"I know exactly what you meant, but I don't have a thing for him, and I'm going to go talk him now, if you don't mind!"

"No I don't mind but I'm coming with you." Justin replies causing his sister to groan in frustration.

"Fine but hurry up."

"What's the rush? I thought you don't have a thing for him?"

"JUSTIN!" Erin yells

"Ok, ok, I'll drop it, let's go."

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Jay's POV

At first he thought he was imagining things, but he felt her gaze on him, felt it practically burning a hole in his body. He couldn't stop thinking about how Erin was staring at him mowing his lawn, through the front window of their house. He didn't look at her, but he did see her, he wanted to smile, but didn't, not wanting to give away that she'd been caught. He was used to it, being one of the newest star athletes of the school, he always got a lot of attention, and he had an on again off again relationship with one of the prettiest girls in the school. That thought crossed his mind, as he was closing the door to the shed in his family's backyard. When he turned around, he spotted Justin and Erin making their way over to him. He was confused, and a little flustered as his eyes locked with Erin's, her beautiful hazel orbs, practically hypnotizing him. He almost missed his friends distant hellos, giving a nod of his head in acknowledgement, as his eyes made the journey down her body. Her outfit so simple, yet perfect, presenting her figure in such an elegant way. His mouth went dry as he took in how the dark red shirt and black short shorts complimented her seemingly soft, and slightly tanned skin. He was broken from his trance by someone, who he assumed to be Justin clearing his throat. He looked up at the siblings, thankful to be able to blame his flushed appearance on his yard work, instead of the thoughts running through his head.

Justin's the first to speak out of the three of them

"What's up man, my sisters got a question for you, I'm just here to swim in your pool."

Jay laughs at his forwardness "Alright."

At that Justin dives in and starts to swim to the other side of the pool, just out of ear shot but he could still observe this interaction between his sister and closest friend.

"Hey." Jay says, with a smirk, deciding at that moment to call her out for earlier. "Do you really have a question for me, or did you just decide that you had to see all this" he says gesturing to himself "up close instead of staring through the window from inside your house."

"Wow, little full of ourselves, aren't we?" Erin says trying to conceal the blush on her cheeks.

"Am I wrong to be?" Jay asks

Erin decides not to touch that question, and just gets to the point.

"I really do have something to ask you, do you have a window guy?"

Jay answers with a look confusion taking over his face "I don't know what that means?"

"Justin said you have a guy for everything, said you have a construction guy, and car guy even though you don't have a car yet, and I need a window guy. Cause I kind of cracked mine last night, and I don't know anyone that can fix it without them telling my dad, and I kind of don't have all the money, so I was hoping to work out some kind of payment thing." She practically begged.

Jay leaned against the shed slightly, thinking of his next words, "What's in for me?"

Erin shrugged a little at that "I don't know, can we figure that out later? Don't make me beg?"

"Yeah I'll see what I can do. In the mean time do you want to go for a swim?" Jay answers

"You just want me to go swimming, so you can see me in my bikini."

"I mean it's only fair" he smirks "and offense to your brother but you're a little easier on the eyes." he says all joking aside "but seriously Er, can you stay and hang out with us?"

"I'll go get changed." Erin says shaking her head at him.

After she went home and changed into her swimsuit. She went back, and set her phone and purple beach towel, or one of the Halstead's blue and green striped lounge chairs the surrounded the mid-sized in ground pool. Once she had her stuff down, she looked around in search of the guys, but no sign of them. She figured they went inside for something quick, and decided to dip her toes in the clear water, that appeared light blue because of the pool lining. All of a sudden, she gets swept off her feet, and held directly over the side of the pool. She turned her head to see who had picked her up.

"Jay don't please?!" She pleads, as he pretends he's going to throw her in.

Justin standing back, holding his phone up to take pictures of the two of them. Jay holding her bridal style, while she has her arms tightly wrapped around his broad shoulders, her legs bent so tight that her toes are pointed towards the back of her thighs in attempt to keep herself from being tossed in the water. At least that's the reason she goes with, the other being that she didn't want to lose this contact she currently had with him. She thinks as he starts counting down from 3.

"3,2, 1, you ready Er?" He asks, not giving her a chance to respond, he jumps in the deep end with her still in his arms.

When they resurface, all three of them laugh hysterically, Erin goes to dunk Jay's head under, and ends up on his back, Justin takes the opportunity to take a picture of his sister and best friend. Once the phone makes the noise indicating it captured the photo, he taps on the small square with the minimized picture. His sister has one of her hands laid on top of Jays wet brown curls, her arm positioned so her elbow is just touching his right shoulder, her left hand is placed on his other shoulder, trying with all her might to push him under, both of them have huge smiles plastered on their faces as they each look to the side at the other. The seemingly blue water, as well as pure joy makes their eyes, his blue, and her hazel shine bright. Justin looks at the picture a little longer before he sets his phone down, so he can jump back in. Erin swims away from Jay, and the three of them continue to have fun, blissfully unaware of the multitude of angry texts, missed calls, and voicemails Erin's silenced phone is receiving from Charlie, since she forgot to flip the little switch on the side of cell, oblivious to how furious he'll be when he gets there.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** **Ok guys I'm sorry for not updating at all this last week, but life's been crazy, and the extra motivation to do much of anything as been so touch and go. Hopefully that'll stop, but we'll see. This chapter once again picks up immediately after previous one. Please leave reviews or comment on Tumblr and let me know what you think. I hope you had a great weekend, and have a great week. As always Much Love.**

Chapter 4

Erin was walking back to her house, still smiling ear to ear from the events of the last few hours. Hanging with Justin and Jay always made for some great times, they were always joking around and laughing with each other, there was surely never a dull moment with the two of them. As she was opening her back door, someone firmly grabs her bicep, and yanks her backwards, first she looks at the hand that is sure to leave a bruise. Her eyes make their way up his arm, and to his face, Charlies face. He gives her arm another yank, causing her to stumble down the three stairs that lead up to their back door. Once she is at the same level as him she jerks her arm, trying to free it from his grasp.

"Charlie what the fuck? Let me go." She snaps

His grip loosens for a second, before tightening again. "Where the fuck have you been? " She looks down at her bikini, thinking it was rather obvious where she'd just been. He continues yelling at her. "I've been trying to get ahold of you for the last four fucking hours. I need you to come-"

"No!" Erin cuts him off, already knowing what he was going to say to her.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?'

"I said No, N.O! I'm done Charlie. Done with all of it, and I'm done with you. We're-" She doesn't get to finish her sentence before he backhands her so hard, she thought her cheek was going to be split open. Tears immediately start to stream down the hot skin of cheeks. Justin and Jay were just coming back outside, when they see Charlie hit Erin. Both of them dropping their cups and leaping over the chain link fence separating the two backyards. Justin goes to his sister, who is now sitting on the stairs, holding the side of her face. While Charlie goes to hit Jay, but Jay's reflexes are too quick, and he blocks Charlies punch. Jay punches the side of his face, before kneeing him in the groin, then he brings down Charlies head, and proceeds to knee him in the face, a few times. Charlie ends up on the ground, blood dripping out of his nose, and mouth. He stays there for brief moment, before slowly starting to get up, he spits out some blood, before he starts to talk.

"You're going to regret that, you all should watch your backs."

The loud sound of a car door slamming, coming from the driveway at the other side of the house causes them all to jump slightly. Justin and Erin both give each other a quick glance knowing that it was most likely their dad coming home either for lunch, or because they solved the case. Charlie must of picked up on the twins silent conversation, because he takes off around the side of the house to his car, and speeds away. Jay walks a little closer to his friends who are both sitting on the white wooden stairs. Justin excuses himself to get his sister some ice. Jay first takes in the dark red patch of skin located just above her elbow; causing his blood to start to boil again; he steps even closer and squats right in front of her. He gently lifts her arm by her elbow, and softly runs his thumb just below the forming bruise, before slowly placing her arm back down on her lap. Then he looks at her tear stained face, and red cheek. He can't seem to look her in the eyes, so he once again looks at her arm; not being able to help the overwhelming sense of guilt that's coursing through his body. If he hadn't gone inside to get himself and Justin something to drink maybe this wouldn't have happened to her. As if she could read his thoughts she places two fingers under his chin, pushing up gently, in attempt to get him to look her in the eyes, which he still avoids.

"Hey Jay look at me please?" Which he does, and then she continues to talk.

"I'm ok, and you shouldn't be feeling guilty." Knowing full well, that he is beating himself up for this, he's been like that.

"If I had been out here, maybe he wouldn't have hurt you." He replies

"Jay stop." She says a little more sternly than her previous words, which causes him to look down at his hands, he opens and closes his right hand a few times, bringing Erin's attention from his face to his hand. She takes his hand in hers and brings it up to examine it a little closer; his knuckles are red and swollen.

"Thank You for everything today." She says placing a light kiss to his knuckles, as they stare each other for a minute, before they hear Hank start to walk closer, moving from the spot where he was leaning up against his suv, and finally ending the phone call with his partner Alvin Olinsky about the case they just closed. Justin comes out just as his dad rounds the corner. He immediately sees his daughters red cheek, and arms; to say he's pissed is an understatement, and he finishes walking over to the three teenagers. He raises his hand to her face, much like she did to Jay, and asks

"What the hell happened? What the hell did you two do to her?" Turning his head to Justin, then to Jay, and that's when notices his knuckles, and he sees red. Within seconds he's in Jay's face, itching to pin him to the back wall of their house, but something causes him to hold back.

"You did this to her, did y-" He screams, Erin runs over, and puts herself between Jay and her enraged father.

She cuts him off "No dad he would never hurt me, Jay got hurt protecting me, it was Charlie."

"Charlie? Fucking Charlie." He says while starting to pace.

"Dad I-"

"Get inside now" He warns

"Dad, please listen." She cries

"Erin Lindsay Voight get your ass inside the house right fucking now."

She sniffles, as she makes her way into the house, she jumps when her dad starts yelling again

"Justin you too."

Justin being the genius that he is, decides to make things worse and questions their dad

"What did I do? Its her boyfriend."

"Justin NOW." Once the door slams closed, he turns his attention back to the young man frozen in fear in his backyard, rubbing his hair line

"Look kid I don't say this much, but I'm sorry I came at you like I did, and I'll make sure to talk to your mom, when she gets home. Go home, put some ice on that hand." He says in little bit of a softer voice for him; Jay starts to walk away, when Hank speaks again, Jay just turns his head towards him

"Hey, they're lucky to have you as a friend. Thank You for looking out for her today." Jay just nods and says

"Always." And continues to walk to his house. He can hear Hank enter his house, and he immediately starts screaming at his kids.

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Just like he said, Hank talked to his mom when she got home from work a few hours later. When she came to talk to Jay, the look on her face told Jay that he was about to get an ear full, and he'll probably be grounded indefinitely, but that look softened when she looked at his now bruised hand, and she actually smiled a little. She told Jay that she was proud that he defended Erin, and he didn't miss it when his mom called her "your girl" but he was still grounded for getting into a fight no matter the reasons for two weeks, which of course his dad didn't agree with, he thought he deserved longer, probably thought he should sent to some boarding or something. He and his dad didn't get along, for a number of different reasons, but his mom always defended him and she won this argument just like she always does.

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Its about quarter after midnight now, and Jay was just getting back to his room, from getting a glass of water, when he hears a soft hey, confused he looks around his room, but there's no one there. He hears it again, but this time the beautiful raspy voice says "Hey Jay, Jay look out your window." As instructed he looks out the small side window located near the corner of his room, right above his bed. He takes a seat on his mattress. He sticks his out of it slightly and looks straight across then he sees her; she's simply breathtaking. He assumes she's sitting on her bed too, he starts at her arms which she has laying one on top of the other, the tank top she's wearing giving him an almost perfect view of the soft mounds, that are resting on her arms. He bites his lip, trying to calm himself down, as he feels himself getting aroused at the sight, shaking his head, he looks at her face that now has a deep black and blue bruise on the left side, but she still looks amazing, still manages to look absolutely flawless even in the dark of the night. He was so lost in his daze that he didn't realize she was talking to him until he saw her lips moving.

He says "sorry what did you say Er?"

She sighs and restates what she just said to him "I said I'm sorry if I got you in trouble."

"Hey its no biggie, I've been punished for much worse things, and for much longer. So how long are you in for?" He says with that smirk that makes her knees weak

"I don't know, probably forever." They both chuckle slightly at that

"Well at least we can still talk, right?"

"Yeah I guess."

"Don't sound so excited."

"I'm sorry, I'm just tired, I saw you were up, and I wanted to apologize and say thank you again." She says just before yawning

"Alright well you should get some sleep, goodnight Er."

"Goodnight My Hero."

He smirks again, and continues to look at her, as she starts to lay down. Once she's out of sight, he too lays down, but he doesn't fall asleep right away, instead staring at his ceiling thinking of her, and the fact that he was falling for her, hard.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sleep didn't come for me last night, got a few things missing from my nightly routine, it'll just take some getting used to on my end, but for the time being its resulting in more writing. It kind of helps me with the thoughts that are constantly plaguing my brain at night; anyways enough of that. There's a little time jump in the beginning of this chapter. As always I hope you enjoy it, and please leave reviews, or comments, and thank you.**

Chapter 5

Jay has always been one to get up early in the morning, even on the weekends, summer vacation, or in this case even after to going to sleep at three in the morning. He and Justin, and a few of their friends we're hanging out playing video games, and lost track of time. Yesterday was the last day of Justin's three week grounding, so they kind of had a little celebration with the two families last night, and some others for his birthday. Mr. Voight had let him off easy because he really didn't do anything on that day three weeks ago. He punished Erin more, because she had deliberately disobeyed him when it came to seeing Charlie, and she had always made things worse for herself challenging her father, according to Justin. Jay had felt bad that she couldn't participate in the birthday get together, seeing as how it was her birthday too. So he wanted to do something special for her, on her day, even if she couldn't leave her room, which was locked for the outside, and after his guy fixed her window she was afraid to sneak out and break it again. It was quarter to six and Jay made his way to the bathroom to take a shower.

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Ever since her mom passed away, her birthday didn't really seem like a big deal to her, her mom was always the one who made it special for her and brother; even then to her it was just another day, the same as the other 364 days that are in a year. But for some reason it made her sad that she wasn't allowed to go to the party they had for her brother last night, it bothered her, seeing them having fun outside, then moving into the house when it got too cold to swim. She could see them all standing around her brother singing to him just before he blew out his candles, on the perfectly decorated cake, which she was sure was made by Mrs. Halstead. Her cakes were the best; there's no competition. It made her mouth water just thinking about having a piece, but not this year, she'll just have to pray that her prison sentence ends by her birthday next year, so she can have some of the delicious cake she had on her birthday for as long as she can remember.

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Little did she know someone was thinking about her, he's been thinking about her non stop for the last three weeks; especially on the nights where they'd talk to each other from their bedroom windows, sometimes until early in the morning. Today was no exception, after his shower, he made his was down to the kitchen where he was met by his mother. She had already known of his plans, she was so proud of her younger son, he always had a such big heart; doing whatever he can to help others, or make others happy, but he still managed to surprise her just how far he would go.

"Good morning mom." Jay being the first to speak

"Good morning sweetie. Are you ready to make your girl a cake." She said to her son

"Mom." Jay says in an exaggerated tone, and he can't help the pink tint that is sure to be taking over his face.

"Sweetie you don't have to be embarrassed, or hide your feelings with me." She says putting her hands on his shoulders turning to face her.

"Mom can we please just make the cake?" Jay asks

"Jay?"

"Fine mom, I like her" he pauses briefly then says "a lot actually." Which earns him a smile for his mom "Now can we please start."

"Yes we can, first we have to start by mixing all these ingredients together."

They make the cake, and decorate it with a white frosting as the base, then use red for the trim and writing. Jay yet again surprised his mom, she didn't expect him to be able decorate it the way he did, Will always being the more artistic of her sons, but she had to admit that his cake put some of hers to shame; he definitely put his heart into it. It took the two of them about two and half hours to finish the cake, and now they were off to the mall, and the party store. Once arriving at the mall, they went straight to the jewelry store where he saw this silver necklace, and with a simple square ruby stone. He saw it a week ago, in the window, when he'd come to get some new cleats for the upcoming soccer season. When he saw it he immediately thought of her, and the little sign next to it told him that ruby was the July birthstone too. He had his mom ask how much it was, expecting it to be way more than his allowance would cover, and he couldn't stop the smile that took over his face when the woman told them how much it was. He told her he'd take it, they then left the mall; making their way to the party store to get some balloons. By the time they arrived home it was going on ten. Jay said bye to his mom, when she headed off to work, and she told him, "she'll love it." Jay was so excited but also nervous that she wouldn't like any of it. He eventually pushed that thought out of his head, and made his way to the Voight's backyard just outside her recently fixed window; Justin had just text him and told him she was taking a shower. He set everything up so it'd be ready when she got out of the shower.

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She noticed it right away when walking out of her ensuite bathroom. There was about eight bright colored birthday balloons floating just outside the larger of her two bedroom windows. She froze in place for a moment, before making her way over to the window, she looked down, and saw the shiny red weight attached at the bottom of the ribbon that was just the perfect length to reach her window but not too long for the balloons to popped on the tree branches. As she admired the balloons a little more, she noticed a little note on one of the strings. It said in the rather neat handwriting "Happy Birthday Er!" on one side, and the bottom of the card had an arrow, indicating for her to flip it over, the other side read "Now can you do me a favor and open your door, please?"

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 **Let me know what you think, please and thank you!**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Another update! I know that cliffhanger wasn't that good but I still couldn't leave you guys hanging lol. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 6

 _As she admired the balloons a little more, she noticed a little note on one of the strings. It said in rather neat handwriting "Happy Birthday Er!" on one side, and the bottom of the card had an arrow, indicating for her to flip it over, the other side read "Now can you do me a favor and open your door, please?"_

She smiled as she made her way over to her bedroom door, and took a deep breath as she turned the knob revealing a very nervous looking Jay. There he stood in a black loose fitted tank top, and faded blue swim shorts, the shirt showing off the top of his pecks, and his perfectly muscular arms that she wouldn't mind being wrapped up in, especially right now. She looked down at the cake he had in his hands, it was a round cake, which also said "Happy Birthday Er" and had little waves around the edges in red frosting.

Jay took a moment to check her out just as she did him, he starts at her legs, which appear to be surprisingly tan in comparison to the black spandex she's wearing as shorts, then his eyes travel to the patch of skin being exposed by her light teal tank top riding up ever so slightly, his eyes stay there for a moment before continuing their journey up her body, finally settling on her beautiful, usually hazel eyes, that appear to be more of a blue today. Jay cleared his throat, trying to compose himself, before he dared to speak

"Happy 15th Birthday Linds, and thanks for opening the door." He said looking down at the cake, feeling embarrassed that his voice still betrayed him by cracking, despite his efforts. Her smile widen when she saw that she seemed to make him just as nervous as he did her

She said "Yeah but aren't I the one who is supposed to be the asking for favors seeing as how it's my birthday" she giggles when his nervous grin disappears "I'm kidding Jay, thank you, but how did you-?"

They both chuckle and say "Justin" at the same time before she even finishes her question.

"He told me he knows where your dad hides the key, so I text him like an hour ago asking him to unlock it, he said it was perfect timing because he just heard your shower go on." Jay says to further answer her

"Do you want to come in and put that down?" She asks gesturing from the cake to the desk in her room.

"Yeah." He says shyly "Do you want a piece right away?"

She just nods; a huge smile and her dimples once again making an appearance. He goes back downstairs to grab the plates, plastic forks, and the knife he brought with him, that he left on their kitchen table. When he returns he takes the clear plastic cover off of the cake and sets it to the side before grabbing the knife and also removing its cover before cutting a piece for her, placing it on a plate that he was holding to the side of the cake. She's standing next to him the whole time, watching him look adorable as he concentrates so hard on cutting her a piece as perfectly as possible. He hands the plate and watches her walk over to her bed, and sitting down before taking a bite, and smirks a little when she says

"Mmmm this is even better than I remembered, tell your mom I said thank you for this, I definitely thought I was going to have to wait until next year to have some of her cake."

He lets out another chuckle, she looks at him confused

"What's so funny, Jay?" she asks

"I'm glad you think it tastes like she made it."

"Why she didn't?"

"Well it's her recipe, and she helped a little, but I wanted to make it for you." she looks at him adoringly, and then he talks again

"I know you're thinking, how is it he has rugged good looks, a razor sharp mind, and excels at everything he does, because I ask myself that quite often."

Not wanting to feed his ego Erin replies "No I was actually thinking that it makes sense that you made it because it's a little dry."

That smug look he had on face going away briefly before make a return "Nope it's too late you already said it was better than you remembered, don't worry I won't tell my mom you like my cake more."

"Well I didn't want to be rude if your mom made it, but now that the truths out, your frosting is a little lumpy too." She lets out a hearty laugh as Jay pretends to be hurt

"But seriously Jay you didn't have to go through the trouble for me."

"I know." He says then pauses "I mean I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a pain." Now it was his turn to laugh as she gives him a pout "I'm joking Er, it was no trouble and I wanted to do something for you." he says as he walks over to the bed to sit down next to where she sat Indian style, with her back leaning up against the grey fabric of the headboard, the plate with half the piece of cake he gave to her sitting in her lap. She looks at the plate, and smiles as she thinks about throwing it at him, but doesn't want to make a huge mess, so she pretends to see something in the cake, bringing it up closer to him

"What is that Jay? Is that an eggshell?" She asks, he leans in to take a closer look, trying to see what she sees and starts to say "I don't see any-" he gets cut off by her picking some of it up and smearing it all over his face, he looks up at her laughing with her hand covered in cake and frosting held close to her face, her other hand is holding the plate over to the side of the bed

"Oh you're so getting it." He says wickedly

She tries to contain her laughter before saying "No Jay please, I just took a shower, and I don't want to make a mess."

"Well you should of thought about that before." He says inching closer to her before snatching the plate from her hand and pinning her to the bed in one swift motion, she squeals and tries to wiggle out of from under him, but his legs are straddling her waist, and he's got one of his strong hands holding both of hers above her head. She can feel just how this position is affecting him through the fabric of his shorts, where her tank top is riding up her stomach, and she can't control the throbbing between her legs, or the dull ache she feels spread through her lower abdomen. She's broken from her thoughts, as Jay brings the plate down to her face covering her in the cake and frosting. He watches her lick her lips, and he bites back a moan. Erin feels his grip loosen slightly and takes the opportunity to roll out from beneath him, and run to the bathroom to wash her face. He sits on the end of the bed willing his body to calm down. He laughs when she reemerges, sighing exasperatedly while drying her face with a red towel, she then suggests that he too go wash off. He does, and comes back out minutes later, as she was just replacing her pillowcase after throwing the one now full of cake crumbs and frosting in the washing machine, along with her comforter.

He breaks the silence and says "Well so much for not making a mess." She lets out a giggle at that

"Yeah thanks." She says in mock annoyance

"You're not seriously blaming me for that, are you? Because you're the one who got it on me first, I was just getting you back."

"I was kidding Jay. I know I started it, and I'm glad I did cause it was the most fun I had in weeks." She says sincerely to which he replies "Me too."

"So thank you for that and thank you for being here, I was honestly feeling a little bummed about having to spend my birthday alone." She doesn't know if it's the fact that he went through this to make her birthday special, or the fact that she's gotten so accustomed to telling him so much over the last few weeks, but she means it, and she's glad she says it

"I still have one more thing to give you."

"What?"

"Here." He says handing her the jewelry box he had in his right back pocket.

"Jay you didn't have to do that."

"Erin just open the damn box." He says sternly

She obliges and gasps when she opens it, revealing the most simple but equally beautiful silver necklace with her favorite color and birthstone on it. She's still staring at it when he asks

"If you don't like it I can take it back, it's just when I saw it I thought of you, and I don't know. Shit I knew I should of got you-" She cuts off his nervous rambling

"Jay" she says calmly, bringing her hand up to his face to get him to look at her instead of the hard wood panels of her bedroom floor before continuing

"I love it, and this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." She smiles at him "will you help me put it on please?" He just nods, and takes the box out of her hands, she turns her back to him, while he pulls the necklace out and places the box on the desk next to the rest of the cake, he brings the necklace over her head, before bringing it down, so it rests on her chest, she lifts her hair, while he clasps it at the back, she doesn't miss how his fingers linger at the back of her neck for a moment longer, or how his touch nearly sets her on fire. She lets her hair back down, while she turns to face him, and she looks down at the piece of jewelry that now adorns her neck, and then looks up at him and says "Thank You, it's beautiful." He replies "It looks beautiful on you." Their eyes are locked on each other's, taking turns glancing at the other lips, they slowly lean in, their faces only centimeters apart, when….

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	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _She lets her hair back down, while she turns to face him, and she looks down at the piece of jewelry that now adorns her neck, and then looks up at him and says_ _"_ _Thank You, it_ _'_ _s beautiful._ _"_ _He replies_ _"_ _It looks beautiful on you._ _"_ _Their eyes are locked on each other_ _'_ _s, taking turns glancing at the others_ _l_ _ips, they slowly lean in, their faces only centimeters apart, when_ _…_

Suddenly Erin puts her hands on his chest and gently pushes him away. She can't find the courage to look at him, but she's sure he's got a look of confusion and devastation crossing his face, as she gets him an arm's length away. She tries to swallow the lump in her throat, holding back the tears forming in eyes; her voice is just above a whisper, when she starts to explain herself

"I'm sorry, it's just, we can't. You're my brother's best friend, what if he doesn't approve, or what if we hurt each other. I don't want to ruin the friendship the three of us have if we don't work. I think its best if we just stay friends." Then she dares to look up at him, when he gives a quiet "Yeah" in response and she has to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. She wanted to kiss him, she wants him, but she's scared, she doesn't want to lose him. ' _Not to mention I don_ _'_ _t deserve you, you deserve someone better, someone like Allie Corson, with the perfect family, and the perfect life, that_ _'_ _s what you deserve. I was with Charlie because I was_ _"_ _accepting the love I thought I deserved_ _"_ _not that anyone could call that love, but still it_ _'_ _s what I deserved_.' She thought as she saw him looking completely broken, and it makes her feel even worse for being the reason he's hurting. She starts to apologize again "Jay I'm so sorry, I know you went through all this trouble for me today, and it's amazingly sweet, and thoughtful; I feel like a total bitch for doing this to you." He shakes his head, stopping her from continuing to ramble, before saying

"Don't be, I get it." Although he really doesn't, he's confused, he thought she felt it too, thought she felt what he's been feeling for a while now, and was just hiding it like he's been. He brings his hand up to rub the back of his neck; as he tries to think of an excuse to leave, he just says

"I should probably get going, I forgot I still have to get some stuff before practice starts next week, I hope your birthday's not as bad you thought it was going to be. I'll uh…I'll talk to you later Erin." He turns to leave, not even looking back when she says his name, or says "you deserve better" so quietly that she probably thought he wouldn't hear it; he just keeps walking, walks right out of her bedroom, and down the hall.

She just stands there for a moment, just staring at the open door, letting the tears pour down her face, she can actually feel her heartbreaking as she listens to his retreating footsteps, she takes a couple steps forward, placing her hand on the back of the door, before slamming it shut. She keeps her hand flat against the door, and places her head on her hand, before turning it to look at the cake that's still sitting on her desk, and the black velvet jewelry box that use to hold the necklace he gave her. She's brings her other hand up to hold the beautiful square stone around her neck, she turns her back to the door, leaning up against it before sliding down it until she's sitting on the floor. She brings her knees up and lays her head on them, as sobs rack her body.

She just keeps repeating "you deserve better" to herself in her head even as she hears him leave the house, letting the door slam behind him.

When she slams the door is when he decides to continue walking, he walks down the stairs, through the kitchen and out the back door, letting it slam to let Erin know he had actually left. He didn't really want to leave, he wanted to turn back and kiss her, and tell her that her saying "you deserve better" and her using "what if's" as an excuse was complete bullshit and she knows it. He didn't believe it, he wanted to tell her that he knows she feels it too, give her the what ifs that he had in mind, that they deserved each other, and he didn't deserve better, because to him she was the best. But he just keeps walking towards his house, and then Justin walks up with some of their buddies. Justin ran up to his best friend, wanting to know how things went,

"Hey man, how'd things go with my sister?" He asks, Jay just looks down at his feet, shaking his head

"Aw I'm sorry man, but I know she has a thing for you too, she's just too stubborn to admit it, she'll come around." He pauses letting that sink for a minute before he continues to talk

"Hey the guys and I are going to go the park to play a game or two, we could us another person, if want to come with, maybe it'll get your mind off of her."

Jay looks at the corner of the house where her bedroom is, and then looks back at his friend, and nods his head, saying "Yeah, I'll just go change my shorts and shoes, I'll be right back."

He comes back out minutes later, and gives that corner one last glance, thinking about just going back up there to her again, before one of the guys yells "Come on Jay lets go." He says "Yeah I'm coming." walking over to where they were standing, and they leave to go to the park.

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At some point she gets up off of the floor and makes her way over to her bed, leaning up against the headboard much like she did against the door, she grabs a pillow, and cries into it a little more before looking over at her window, and deciding to bring the balloons in through the window from the backyard. She puts them in her bathroom, so her dad wouldn't see them when he got home, also pulling the desk chair out, and placing the cake on it, before pushing it back under the desk to cover it. She soon hears someone walking down the hall, then they knock, and open the door. It's her brother and he's looking at her disapprovingly, immediately reprimanding her for being so stubborn, before heading over to his room to grab his cleats, and soccer ball. Saying "see you later sis." As he walks past her room, and then she's alone again. She goes to close the door again, and then lays down, and falls asleep for a few hours.

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Weeks go by, and those side windows of their bedroom s stay closed. They don't talk except for the occasional hi or hey, in passing or when they all car pool to the school for soccer and volleyball practice. Erin is still grounded but her dad has loosened the reigns a little since practice started, and he even lets her go to the guy's scrimmage game on one Thursday night, and that's the night Charlie decides to get his revenge.

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 **A/N: I don't know if or when I'll be able to update this weekend, but I'll try my best. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Please leave reviews and let me know what you think. I hope everyone has a great weekend.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok so I've been tossing around ideas with myself on how I wanted this chapter to go, and I still don't really like how it turned out, but I'm hoping to make up for it in the next few chapters. Sorry for the mistakes. I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Please leave reviews, let me know what you think** , **and I'll try to update again as soon as possible.**

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Chapter 8

 _Weeks go by, and those side windows of their bedrooms stay closed. They don't talk except for the occasional hi or hey, in passing or when they all car pool to the school for soccer and volleyball practice. Erin is still grounded but her dad has loosened the reigns a little since practice started, and he even lets her go to the guy's scrimmage game on one Thursday night, and that's the night Charlie decides to get his revenge._

Their night was going great the guys won their game, even though they weren't really supposed to be keeping score because it was just a scrimmage, but they played against their rivals the Reagan Bulldogs, so they definitely weren't going to treat it as just any ole scrimmage. After their own practice Erin, Kim, and Annie all sat together, watching the game while they talked. The game started at 7 and ended at around 8:30. The team had huddled up after the game, going over what they needed to work on before their first official game in two weeks. Once their coaches were done lecturing them, the team went to the locker room to take showers, and then headed home. They left Justin and Jay to clean up all the equipment, and the bottles, or cups left on the sidelines, seeing as how they were the youngest two on the team. When they were done, and everything was put in its place or thrown away, the two of them made their way to the locker room to shower as well. Erin decided to wait for them to get done, trying to extend the time she spent out of her personal prison for as long as possible, and walk home with them. Everyone else had left, or so she thought as she stood outside the door closest to the boy's locker room. She thought wrong, as a hooded figure makes its way towards her, and she starts to panic. The person continues to walk towards her, before stopping and removing his hood. Erin gasps, when she sees that it's Charlie, she turns around, wanting to run away, when she gets hit over the side of her head with something hard, and everything fades to black, as she falls to the ground.

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Jay's POV

They had just finished taking their showers, Justin taking way longer than necessary, they grab their gym bags and they push open the green door of the locker room, and then out the glass doors of the school. When they didn't see Erin they immediately get worried; they had just spoken with her roughly thirty minutes ago, and she said she was going to wait for them right there. They decide to split up and look for her. A few minutes later he finds her, and it's as if the world slows as he makes his way over to her; yelling for Justin, and pulling out his phone to call for help. He kneels down to where Erin is laying on the black asphalt of the school parking lot. She's covered in blood; the fabric that used to make up her white tank top, pink sports bra, and black spandex shorts were all just rags laid across her, leaving her skin exposed. He yells for Justin again, not even realizing that he had been standing in shock only feet away, while he stays on the line with the 911 dispatcher, he pushes the "speaker" button on the screen, and drops the phone to the ground. He grabs his hoodie he had laid on top of his gym bag, and placed it under her head, then he dug around in the green bag to retrieve a shirt to cover her up. His hands are shaking as he reaches out to touch her face, and he's surprised when she lets out a groan.

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Erin's POV

She feels someone gently caress her cheek, and she lets out a groan. Her eyes flutter, as she tries to break out of the darkness that has consumed her since being struck over the head. After a few moments she starts to feel more pain then just the throbbing in her head, she feels every cut, and the pain radiating from in between her legs. She hears a male voice start saying her name and she jumps slightly before realizing that she recognized the voice, and it was not one she should fear. This voice is strong, and confident, but is also gentle and soothing, she slowly turns her head towards him. She blinks a few times "Jay?" she says weakly, when her eyes meet his tear filled ones, a few tears of her own falling down the side of her face. She hears another voice, but she's not quite sure who it is, or where its coming from, and that's when she sees her brother, he's frozen in place a few feet away from her and Jay. Her vision isn't the clearest right now, but she can see how pale he is, she wants to comfort him and let him know she's ok, but when she goes to sit up, she gets pushed back down gently. That's when Justin comes over to her other side, and kneels next to her. The voice that she couldn't locate before is asking if she was still conscious and trying to move to which Jay answers

"Yes she's conscious, but she's not trying to move anymore." Then the voice on the phone says to Jay "Ok Jay try and keep her awake and calm, the ambulance is almost there."

Jay nods in response as if the person on the phone can see him then he starts talking to me "Hey Er, did you hear that? Help is on the way, it's almost here, ok?" And then it's my turn to nod, as I feel the darkness creeping back again, then Justin speaks for the time since I've been awake

"Hey Jay her thigh is bleeding a lot, ask if we should be putting pressure on it."

Jays asks, which the voice on the phone replies with a yes, and walks them through how to do it in the most effective way. Justin goes to grab a shirt from his bag, and is about to go and do as instructed by the dispatcher, when I use all the strength left in my body to clench my legs together. Even with being semi-conscious I knew I didn't want my brother applying pressure to my upper thigh when I'm completely clothed, much less when I have barely anything covering the bottom half of my body. He says "Erin I have to put pressure on it." Not having a lot of fight left in me I just say "No." weakly. Justin says sternly "Erin I have to-" I cut him off then, my words coming out a bit whiny "No Justin I don't want you to." He lets out a sigh, and he's about to say something else when Jay cuts in, putting his hand on my leg and says "What about me? Will you let me put pressure on it?" I nod at him hesitantly, relaxing my legs so he can cover me and apply pressure, and that's when the darkness comes back for me again.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I wasn't going to listen to the two of them arguing while she bleeds out, so I cut them off and offer to apply pressure myself, she agrees, and even in the state she's in I can tell she's hesitant. Given the condition she was in, I was expecting her to be in a lot worse shape down there than she was, the only injury I could see was on her thigh. I had just started applying pressure, when her head slumps back down and her body goes limp. After that it was all a blur.


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry this is another slow, boring chapter but hang in there, I'm really going to try to make things a little more interesting with the next few updates. As always thanks for following along, and please leave reviews or comments, I like hearing what you think. Hope everyone had great weekend.

 _Jay's POV_

 _I wasn't going to listen to the two of them arguing while she bleeds out, so I cut them off and offer to apply pressure myself, she agrees, and even in the state she's in I can tell she's hesitant. Given the condition she was in, I was expecting her to be in a lot worse shape down there than she was, the only injury I could see was on her thigh. I had just started applying pressure, when her head slumps back down and her body goes limp. After that it was all a blur…._

Hank's POV

I was just finishing up my paperwork, after wrapping up our most recent case when a call comes through. The call is from Chicago Med, and my heart sinks as I swipe across the screen to answer it. I race out of the district, not even taking the time to inform my sergeant or the rest of the unit of the terrifying news I just received. I turn on my lights and sirens, running every red light trying to get to my daughter as fast as possible. Praying to god, not to take her too, he can't take both of my girls from me. I get there and slam the car into park, still making sure it's not blocking the ambulance lane. I run into the hospital and to the front desk of the ED

"I'm here for my daughter, I need to see my daughter, please show me daughter." I say to the head nurse behind the desk

"Sir I'm going to need you to calm down, and tell me what your daughter's name is?"

"Erin, Erin Voight, I need to see her, where is my daughter?" I yell at her

"Sir the doctors are just finishing up with her now, they should be out soon to inform you on her condition."

"NO, NO Fucking way, you take me to her right now."

"Sir you need to calm down, the doctor will be with you shortly"

I'm about to start yelling at her again, when I hear Justin say dad behind me, and I turn to look at my son who is as pale as a ghost, and Jay is standing close behind him, his hands covered in blood, presumably Erin's

"Justin what the hell happened, where were you? Or YOU?" pointing at Jay, who just looks down at the ground. "You're supposed to protect her, why didn't you protect her?" I yell

Justin answers in a shaky voice "Dad we don't know what happened, I…Jay and I just went to take a shower, and she said she was going to wait for us, and when we came out she wasn't there, so we… we went to look for her, and that's when Jay found her, she was just lying there, she, I'm sorry dad, I'm sorry I didn't protect her, I'm sorry."

I walk towards my son then, and wrap my arms around him, as he sobs into my chest. Just then the doctor comes, and asks for the family of Erin Voight.

"Yeah that's me, that's us, I'm her father." The doctor nods and says "My name is Doctor Stapleton, your daughter is stable now, would I be able talk to you privately for a moment?" I nod at his question

"Sir, your daughter, she lost a great amount of blood, she has shallow lacerations on both of her forearms, as well as one on each of her breasts, and her lower abdomen, with one deeper laceration on her right thigh. The shallow cuts seemed to clot on their own for the most part, the one on her thigh could have been life threatening, but due to the location, my team and I were able to control the bleeding fairly easily. She also has a grade 3 concussion, due to the cut on the back of her head we believe she was struck over the back of the head. The concussion along with the blood lose are why your daughter has been in and out of consciousness, it also explains why she doesn't seem to remember much of what happened to her." He was about to continue but I cut him off

"So she'll be ok? When can I see?" I ask

"Yes she'll be just fine, she just needs to rest, but I asked to speak to you privately because we believe your daughter may have been raped, and we need your consent in order to perform the test."

"Raped? You believe she was raped?" I ask

"Yes sir, Erin has some vaginal tearing which suggests that she could have been raped, but we need to do the test to be sure."

"Yeah, uh yes do the test." I say in complete shock

He says "Ok I just need you to sign this form, stating you're giving us consent." I sign the form, and then he says "I'll have a nurse take you to her room when we are done with the test, and I'll inform you of the results as soon as I receive them."

I just nod again saying "Thank You Doctor Stapleton."

To which he says "I'm not the one you should be thanking."

"What do you mean? You're her doctor aren't you?"

"Yes sir, I am her doctor, but what I meant by that is that you should be thanking those two young men out there." He says gesturing back towards the ED waiting room "My understanding is that your daughter might not have made it here if it wasn't for them." He says as he walks down the hall before turning to the right. I just stay there smacking the wall hard several times, before sliding down it. I take a few moments to just take in the information that was just given to me.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

After Mr. Voight walks off with the doctor, Justin and I return to where we've been sitting in the waiting room for that last hour and a half. I don't even remember how we got here, until I spot Will and I remember calling him after the ambulance picked up Erin. My body has been on auto-pilot since watching her lose consciousness. Since she was picked up I haven't been able to stop staring at my blood stained hands, my hands were stained with her blood, there was so much blood. I should of gone out there to stand with her while Justin was taking a shower. I should have been there to protect her, and have her back. I said I'd always be there for her, and I failed her. Just as that thought crosses my mind, Mr. Voight reappears, and he begins pacing the room, Justin's sitting in the chair next to me, his elbows on his knees, and his head resting on his hand, and my knees are bouncing anxiously, waiting for any kind of news. Another couple hours pass by, and my mom has come to join us after she got off, then finally a blonde woman dressed in blue scrubs comes out, she walks straight up to us and says

"Family of Erin Voight?"

Mr. Voight just answers with "Yeah, I'm her father."

"Mr. Voight I'm Lacy, I'm Erin's nurse for tonight, I just came to inform you that the test is complete, and I can take you to her now, but unfortunately its past visiting hours, and only one of you is allowed to stay with her."

We all nod, and Mr. Voight turns to my mom, and asks

"Can Justin stay with you guys?"

She says "Of course Hank, if either or you need anything just let me know, I'll come in early tomorrow to check up, give her a hug and a kiss for me."

He then turns to Justin, and place his hands on his shoulders "She's going to be ok, the doctor told me what the two of you did for her earlier." He says taking a second to look at me too, before looking back at Justin. "She's going to be ok because of you two, Thank You for saving her life. Both of you." He says to both of us placing one of his hands on my shoulder too, and we just look at him for a second, Justin just nods his head, and Mr. Voight gives him a tight hug, then we start to walk to the car, my mom stays back for a moment, giving him a hug, whispering something else to him, to which he nods. I just keep walking.

XXXXXX

When we get home twenty minutes later, I immediately go to take another shower, before going to my room, where Justin already has an air mattress, blanket and some pillows set up for him. He's sitting on it in the same position he was in the waiting room chair. I go to sit next to him, and put a hand on his shoulder giving a light squeeze.

"Justin you heard what your dad said she's going to be ok, and you'll be able to see that for yourself tomorrow."

He just whispers "yeah" with a little smirk

I say "Just wait she'll be back to being feisty, witty, and stubborn in no time." We both chuckle, a sort of lightness taking over for the first time in last several hours.

He replies "And then you guys will be back to making me sick with the heart eyes, and all flirting in no time."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Play dumb all you want but I'm pretty sure whoever designed the heart eyes emoji, got their inspiration from the two of you, not to mention the whole birthday thing." He says, chuckling at himself this time

"Alright well we should probably just go to sleep."

He shakes his head just replying with "I guess you're right"

"Talk to you in the morning man."

"Yeah night."

We both lay down on our beds, and not long after, I hear his light snores echoing through my room. Sleep doesn't come for me so soon, instead memories of her flood my brain, playing every moment I ever spent with her, like a movie at a theater, and somewhere in between scenes. I sit up slightly, turning to look out my small side window, longing for the night when I get see her beautiful hazel eyes twinkle in the moonlight putting the stars in the sky to shame again, or when I can hear her sleep cloaked and raspy voice, telling me to shut up after saying something stupid, or her laugh, god I wish I could hear her laugh right now, and what I would do to see those dimples that accompany her perfect smile. Her smile is the last thing I think of before finally falling asleep.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Hanks POV

Erin's been in the hospital for two days now. Yesterday she slept most of the day, but when she was awake she seemed to be in good spirits considering what happened to her. So far today she's been able to stay awake a little longer, and she's even able to talk to Med's psychiatrist Doctor Cramer. He and Doctor Stapleton came into her room about an hour ago, and he introduced himself before asking to talk to her alone. Doctor Stapleton and I both left the room. He went to go to check on his other patients, and I just paced in the hall. When Doctor Cramer comes out he goes to talk Doctor Stapleton. The two of the make their way over to me, just as I'm hanging up the phone with the lab who was giving me the results of Erin's rape test.

"Mr. Voight, Doctor Cramer would like to have another session or two with Erin before she's released."

"Is everything ok? I thought she didn't remember much of what happened to her?" I ask

Doctor Cramer answers "From what she told me that is true, she doesn't recollect much, but when a patient, especially one of her age goes through something such as this, I prefer to have more than one session before clearing them."

I nod and say "I understand."

"I will be back tomorrow, to have another session with Erin."

I say "Thank you Doctor." The two doctors then walk their separate ways, I turn to make my way back towards Erin's room, shooting out a few texts, one to Alvin, letting him know that Charlie did in fact assault and rape Erin and then to all of my CI's, informing them that the price for him has just gone up, reiterating that I want him alive. I got to sit in the chair that I've occupied since arriving here on Thursday night, Erin's back to sleep and I just watch over her sleeping form. About an hour later, its quarter after ten and that's when Justin, and Linda arrive. Justin comes in and says

"Hey dad."

I reply "Morning."

Linda then greets me with "Good morning Hank, how's she doing?"

I just shrug "The doc says she's doing good, she had a session with the psychiatrist about an hour ago." I say then I fill her in on what he all said, just as I'm finishing filling Linda in Erin starts to stir, and then her eyes flutter open. Justin always having to tease her says

"Well finally, we've been sitting here for hours waiting for you to wake up."

Erin just punches him in the shoulder before saying "Nice try but its only ten thirty, I was up a little over an hour ago, and you were nowhere to be found."

While the two of them continue to tease each other, I ask Linda if I can talk to her outside, and she just nods, and we walk out of the room, my kids not even acknowledging our exit.

"So thanks for taking care of Justin the last couple of days." I say first

"It's really no trouble, and I know you'd do the same for me, if it was one of my kids."

I nod and then ask "Would you mind staying with them for little bit, I have to go in to work and take care of some things, I'll try to be back as soon as I can."

She doesn't even hesitate in saying "Of course Hank, go do what you have to, I'll stay here for long as you need."

Just then I'm reminded why she and my Camille were such good friends, they're the two most kind and caring people I've ever met. I thank her again, before racing off to where one of my CI's saw Charlie. I get there, and I sit in my truck waiting for him to reappear from the house that my CI said he went into, and hasn't come out of. As I wait, I pull up his file on the monitor in my truck. Charlie Pugliese just turned 18, son of one Richard Pugliese who died from an overdose 5 years ago, and his mother Winona Andrews is a known drug dealer currently serving a 10 year sentence at Cook County. Nicholas Pugliese, Richard's brother has a clean record, accept for a few minor drug possession charges he has had custody of Charlie for the last 3 years. As I finish reading over Charlie's file, he reemerges from inside the house, and I take the opportunity to snatch him, as he's closing the gate. I put some cuffs on him before throwing into the back of my truck, I just got in the driver's seat when Alvin pulls up in front of me, presumably getting my location from our tech guy Oliver binging my phone. He walks up to my window, and I roll it down, he says

"Hank you can't do this, as much as you want to, and as much as I want to. You can't, those kids need you, and they already lost one of their parents. We have to do this by the book, and he won't ever see the light of day again."

I shake my head, "You know I can't do that Al, you saw what he did to her, what he did to my daughter." At that he backs up and I reverse before putting the truck in drive and drive off, taking the piece of shit sitting in my back seat to the silos, and I leave by myself.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

Mrs. Halstead comes back in my room without my dad, and I look at her confused, she just says

"Your dad had to go take care of something at work, he said he'll be back as soon as possible."

"Oh ok" is my only reply before returning my attention back to my idiotic brother who is currently blowing up a blue latex glove, like he's five. We talk for like an hour and Justin was just finishing a story about how he and Jay have just been "demolishing" each other on their stupid video games, and that's when I blurt out the question that's been on the tip of my tongue since waking up

"Where is Jay?" the words coming out more like a whisper, suddenly I feel like sliding under the thin grey blanket covering me from the waist down, and hiding as I feel the heat rise in face, I'm sure it's turning bright red from embarrassment. Justin says, with a more serious look on his face

"He probably doesn't want to be here, because he's feels like you don't want him here, I mean can you really blame him, you did reject him on our birthday, after he did all that stuff for you." My heart sinks at his words, and I look down at my hands, trying to hide the tears forming in my eyes, then I see Mrs. Halstead get up from her chair, and come to stand next to Justin, she smacks him upside the back of his head just like our mom use to do, to which he says

"Ow." I chuckle at that as he rubs the back of his head, and then says

"Sorry" before going to sit down in one of the chairs. Mrs. Halstead gives me a small smile, which I return before she says

"That's not true sweetie, I'm sure he wants to be here, I think he is just a little freaked out, it's hard to witness someone you care deeply about go through something like what you did, but he'll come around."

Just then my lunch is brought in, and Justin decides to go to the cafeteria to get himself something to eat, and I ask him to bring me something different than what I have sitting on the gray plastic tray sitting in from front of me. Both Mrs. Halstead and Justin laugh at that, and then he turns to Mrs. Halstead and asks if she'd like anything, she nods her head, and says "I am a little hungry, but I'll come with you, I want to see what they have today, will you be ok Erin?" turning to ask me

"Yeah I'm ok, I'll be here when you get back." I say, making us all chuckle a little, as if I could go anywhere. They leave, and I'm left alone with my thoughts, I'd like to think that Mrs. Halstead is right about Jay wanting to be here, but I just keeping thinking that Justin is right, that Jay feels I don't want him here, and I'm the only one to blame for that, and my eyes tear up again with that thought. I reach for my phone that my dad gave back to me this morning, I go to my contacts, I scroll down to his name, I click it and then my thumb hovers over his number before pressing down on it. It rings a couple times, before he picks it up…

XXXXXX

 **A/N: Please review, I love hearing what you guys think. The next chapter is pretty much finished, just need a little more... Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Thanks**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

" _Yeah I'm ok, I'll be here when you get back." I say, making us all chuckle a little, as if I could go anywhere. They leave, and I'm left alone with my thoughts, I'd like to think that Mrs. Halstead is right about Jay wanting to be here, but I just keeping thinking that Justin is right, that Jay feels I don't want him here, and I'm the only one to blame for that, my eyes tear up again with that thought. I reach for my phone that my dad gave back to me this morning, I go to my contacts, I scroll down to his name, I click it and then my thumb hovers over his number before pressing down on it. It rings a couple times, before he picks it up…_

"Hello?" He says as more of a question, because he's confused as to why she'd be calling him of all people. She doesn't say anything so he says "Hello?" again then saying "Erin?" He hears her sigh before answering with "Sorry, Hi, I was just calling to see how you were?" She says into the phone, she really wants to say _'I want you to come here_ ' but she doesn't want to sound needy especially after what she did to him three weeks ago. She gets broken from her thoughts when he says "Erin you still there?" She shakes her head, and answers "Yeah, what did you say Jay?" This time he lets out a little chuckle before replying "I said shouldn't I be the one asking how YOU are?"

"No because that seems to be the only question anybody can think to ask the last couple days. Where I'm sure no one, other than maybe your mom, has stopped fretting over me to ask you how you are, so?"

"Yeah, but I'm not just anybody, you can tell me how you're really feeling, then maybe I'll tell you how I am."

She sighs again at that "Honestly I don't know how I'm supposed to feel, I'm grateful that I can't remember much of anything but at the same time, anytime I try to sleep, I see him walking towards me with his hood up, then instead of being knocked out, I'm awake and I see what most likely happened to me, and thankfully when I've woken up, and opened my eyes, no one has seemed to notice. So now the last couple times that've been told I should get some rest, I close my eyes, but I never let myself be consumed by sleep, because I'm too terrified to, I'm too terrified to see what really happened while I was out." She lets out a breath of relief for being able to get that off her chest. "And I can't believe I just said that to you, I didn't even tell that to the psychatrist."

"Why?" He asks

"Why what?"

"Why can't you believe you said that to me? I'm your FRIEND right?" He says putting extra emphasis on the word friend. _'You made that clear on your birthday that you just wanted to be friends.'_ He thinks bitterly to himself, before speaking again "You can tell me anything Er, that's what friends are for." He says, again putting an emphasis on that word "I know I couldn't protect you like I should of, I should of-"

Erin tries to cut him off then saying "Jay" but he just continues "No Erin I should of come out to wait with you, I should of been there to protect you. I told your dad that I'd always be there for you, and I failed you. Again. You want to know how I am?" He asks not realizing that she's nodding her head on the other side of the call "You scared the shit out of me, I could literally feel you slipping through my fingers, I felt you bleeding out, and I felt when your body went limp and I thought you were going to die, and I could not do damn a thing to stop that from happening. I'm not surprised that you don't want to be more than friends with me, I am surprised you even want me as a friend at all. I didn't have your back, again, and I'm sorry" He says sighing, as he paces back and forth in his bedroom. Then Erin talks again

"Do you feel better?" she asks shyly

He nods saying "Yeah" now he's the one who can't believe that he just said that to her

"Can I ask you a favor?" She says breaking him from his thoughts

"Yeah." He answers again

"Can you come here?" She asks, not wanting to respond to his previous words over the phone, she needed him here, in person, suddenly not feeling needy for asking, cause now she knew it was what they both needed, and what they both wanted.

"Are you sure you want-"

She doesn't even let him finish asking that "Yes Jay, I want you here."

There's a brief pause, neither of them saying anything, and she gets this sinking feeling that maybe he doesn't want to see her.

"I mean if you don't want to come I get it, it's just-"

Now it's his to turn to cut in "Of course I'll come, let me just go ask my brother for a ride."

She nods, and says "Ok."

"Ok I'll see you in a little bit." He says before hanging up

She leans her back against her pillows, and sighs loudly, putting her phone in her lap, and threading her fingers through her hair, as closing her eyes. ' _He's coming here.'_ She thinks to herself, completely unaware that brother was just outside her room, and he pretty much her whole conversation with Jay.

XXXXXX

Justin's POV

I can't say I'm surprised that they were talking, but I was taken back when she said she hasn't actually been sleeping. I was going to make my presence known, but I didn't want my sister to stop. If Jay, my best friend was the one to get her to say how she's really feeling, and how she's really doing, then so be it. When I heard her ok, I knew that the conversation was most likely nearing the end. I waited a few moments, before walking a couple steps closer to the door, and poking my head in. She was just putting her phone in her lap. So I decided to walk further into the room, and let her know I was back

"Hey sis."

Her eyes shoot open, and her head whips up "Justin, hey."

Before I can stop the words before from slipping out I say "So is he coming?" I look down at my hands knowing that I'm done for. I then look up at my sister to gauge her reaction, and if looks could kill, I already be on my way to the morgue.

"You were fucking listening to my conversation with Jay?"

I try to dig myself out of the hole I just dug "I'm sorry, it's just I heard you say that you haven't really been sleeping, and that you didn't even tell the doctors how you were really feeling, so I figured if he's the one to get you to talk, and let it out, then I wasn't going to interrupt."

"So you just decide to continue to eavesdrop? I honestly don't know what to say to you right now."

"Look I said I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't of stayed. " I say looking down at the white paper bag I have in my hand "I got you a uh, um a grilled cheese, it was the only thing that looked half way decent." I say before placing the bag on the bed table.

She says "Thank You."

I nod "No problem, uh Mrs. Halstead got called to work, but she said she'll keep checking in. I'm going to head out before Jay gets here. I'm sorry again sis, I know it was wrong of me."

"It's ok Justin. Just promise me that you won't do it again?"

"Promise." I pause for moment "So when is lover boy gonna be here?" I ask trying to lighten the mood a little

"Justin." She all but yells, her face turning bright red, from me mentioning Jay or the fact that I referred to him as lover boy, I don't know, but I know I'm pushing my luck either way.

"You're so lucky I'm laid up in this bed, because otherwise I'd really have to hurt you."

"Alright, alright." I say throwing my hands in the air in surrender, just then there's a knock on the door, and we both turn our attention to Jay standing there, and I take that as my que to leave.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I get to the hospital, and walk to the elevator, taking it to the floor Erin said she is on, before making my way to room 3016. I can hear Erin say "otherwise I'd really have to hurt you." and Justin's "alright, alright." As I take the last few steps to her room. The door is open, but I knock anyways before stepping in the room. Justin immediately stands from the chair he was sitting in, in the corner of the room, he goes over to Erin, and gives her a hug, saying "I'll see you a little later sis." before walking towards me, and patting my shoulder, saying "Hey man." Then he leaves, so it's just the two of us. I walk over to the chair that's located to the left of Erin. I sit down saying "Hey."

She returns a quiet "Hey." Of her own. I take a minute to take in her appearance, she still looks pretty pale, except for the faint pink she has on her cheeks, and the dark circles beneath her eyes, her hair is down, the hospital gown, her pink zip up, and the light grey blanket are covering the rest of her body. But she still looks just as beautiful as always. I can tell she's taking me in too, when she gives me a faint smile, which I return, just as her left hand reaches out to cup my face, I lean into her gentle touch, and close my eyes. Just then she begins to talk, her hand still on my jaw

"You didn't fail me, you've never failed me, you saved my life Jay, my doctor told me that if it wasn't for you and Justin, I might not be here." She says biting her lip "if you hadn't come to look for me, I would have died there on the school parking lot, and then I wouldn't have been able to do this." She says as leans closer to me, I move to stand, not wanting her to tear her stitches, I sit on the edge of her bed, her hand never leaving my cheek, I can feel her breath on face, both of us glancing at the other's lips, much like we did those weeks ago in her room, now both of her hands are grabbing my face, pulling me even closer to her, and that's when our lips finally meet. While our lips move against each other's in a way that's so unfamiliar yet familiar, I can't stop myself from thinking, _'even though we're only fifteen, I want this to be my last first kiss, I only want her for the rest of my life, and I'm damn sure going to try my hardest to make sure that happens_.'

XXXXXX

 **A/N: I think this just might be it for this fic, I love it, and I damn proud of myself for getting this far. I'm crying at just the thought, of pressing that complete button. While I have a ton of ideas left in me, I just never feel its good enough. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Ok so I slept on it, and I probably won't end it now, I was just frustrated with some things, and there's just a lot going on right now. I will continue but I don't think I'll being updating as often as I have been. This chapter picks up where the last chapter left off. Thanks for your thoughts; they also helped me make my decision. I hope I don't disappoint anyone. Please leave reviews, let me know what you think of this chapter.**

 **XXXXXX**

Chapter 12

Jay's POV

We break from our kiss, to catch our breath. Her hands slide down from my face to rest at the top of my chest, and she follows their trail with her eyes, giving me a shy smile when she looks back up at me. My hands move at their own accord it seems, as they go to cup her face now, and I lean in, giving her lips a few small pecks, before I go to stand up and off the bed. She pulls me back down next to her, by holding onto the collar of my shirt. She gives me the most adorable pouty face, before averting her eyes else where

"Can you lay down with me? Please?"

"Er, I don't think I can, otherwise I totally would."

"Please?" She says sticking out her bottom lip a little further.

"Fine, but only for a little bit, I don't want to get in trouble."

"Who is going to yell at us? We're the only ones here."

"Yeah for right now, what about when the nurse comes in? Or the doctor? They're not going to let me stay here."

"Well we'll worry about that if or when it happens, but for right now we can just lay here and cuddle."

"Ok." Is all I say. We both adjust our bodies, getting in a more comfortable position, so her head is laying on my chest, and my arm wraps under her so I can draw gentle circles on her back, and I kiss the crown of her head. We're only laying like this for maybe a few minutes, when her fingers stop tracing patterns up and down my pecs; I know she's asleep, and not the pretend sleep she admitted to earlier on the phone, no, her evened out breathing, tells me she's actually asleep. I continue to rub her back with one hand while retrieving my phone out of my pocket, texting Justin

 _Jay- hey man, you still at the hospital?_

It only takes a couple seconds for me to get a reply

 _Justin-Hey yeah man, had to make sure you didn't get rejected again._

 _Jay-Haha, like she'd actually be able to resist all of this twice._ I text then sending another message immediately after

 _Jay-But I was texting you to let you know that you can come back in here if you want._

 _Justin-Alright, but you guys aren't going to be making out or anything right?_

I was about to reply to that, but he must of been texting that as he was walking from the waiting room, because he was already walking into the room, before I could type out my response. He was standing there just looking at his sister's sleeping form.

He lets out a little chuckle "So she goes from admitting she can't sleep, to sleeping so peacefully in the matter of forty five minutes. Impressive man."

"Yeah." I pause for a second, giving him a confused look "Wait how'd you know she admitted that? She told me she hadn't told anybody that."

"Well she didn't exactly tell me directly, I was kind of listening to your guy's conversation, from the hall."

"Wow Justin." I say shaking my head "I'd imagine that's why she was threatening to seriously hurt you, when I got here?"

"Yeah that's part of the reason, I might of also referred to you as lover boy too." He chuckles at himself at that

"You really do have a death wish don't you?"

"I told her I was sorry, the lover boy thing was just a joke."

I don't even reply to that, just shake my head as I look down at the beautiful girl currently cuddling further into my side, so she's half on top of me. I smile down at her, before moving my gaze to my friend standing at the foot of the bed, and that's when I see Mr. Voight walking in, and I freeze in fear as he walks closer to the bed.

XXXXXX

Hank's POV

After going home, and taking a shower, I make my way back to the hospital. I go straight to Erin's room, and I'm enraged by the sight before me as I walk into her room.

"What the hell do you think you doing Halstead?" I yell making all three teenagers jump, waking Erin up from her slumber.

"What the fuck is this?"

Jay looked like he was going to respond, when Justin steps in between us, and says

"Dad it's not what it looks like."

"Really cause it looks like your best friend, and your sister are cuddled up in her hospital bed, when she should be resting, and getting better." I say trying to step around my son, "He's just trying to help her."

"How's is this helping her Justin? Uh, tell me how!"

He looks back at his sister "I can't."

"Move Justin" He steps to the side and I step closer to the boy laying in the bed with my daughter

"Get the hell off the bed, and out of this god damn hospital, before I throw you out." I say fisting his shirt

"No." Erin says to me

"Excuse me?" I turn my attention to my daughter, not letting go of Jay's shirt

"I said no dad."

"Who do you think you're talking to young lady?"

She seems to ignore my question, also fisting some of Jay's shirt, holding onto to him as best as she can "I want him here, I asked him to come here."

"Well that's too bad." I say turning my attention back to Jay, who's looking at Erin

"I'm going to tell you one more time, get the hell off the bed Halstead." He gives Erin one more glance before moving to stand, I let go of his shirt temporarily, then he gets pulled back down

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

As soon as I see my dad let go of Jay I pull him back down to sit next to me.

"I want him here." I pause briefly, taking a breath, as a few tears slide down my face, and then I speak again "I haven't been able to sleep dad." He looks at me with a look of disbelief or maybe shock, before saying "What do you mean? You've been sleeping just fine."

"No I close my eyes and pretend to sleep, but I can't actually sleep without seeing Charlie, and instead of being knocked out I see and experience everything." I let out a shaky breath "I didn't know that he, that Jay, would be what lets me sleep, but just then, that twenty minutes of sleep, was the best sleep I've gotten in the last three days, so no dad, don't throw him out, because I want him here, I need him."

He just looks at me for a few moments before saying "Halstead, out, now." Except this time I let him go, and watch him walk out of the room with my dad.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I listen to Erin talk, and only look at her the whole time, but then Mr. Voight says "Halstead, out, now." So I stand up, and this time she lets me go, she lets me walk out of the room with her dad following close behind me. He closes the door to her room, and immediately pins me to the wall.

"What kind of game you trying to play here Halstead?" He asks gruffly

"I'm not playing any games here sir, I was trying to-"

"Trying to what? Trying to help? Don't you think you've helped enough? What happened to always? Uh, what happened to that? I trusted you, I took your word, and look what happened, take a look around." Just as he's saying that my mom turns the corner, and immediately walks up and steps between the two of us.

"What is going on here Hank?" She says sternly

"Linda your boy here, was in bed with Erin, and I was just giving him a firm talking to." He says in a softer voice than before

"Well if you were just talking to him that'd be one thing, but if I ever see you put your hands on my son again, you'll surely regret it, do I make myself clear?"

He replies with a "Yes ma'am" much like my brother and I do when she yells at us

"Now Jay sweetie, you should probably head home, and I'll be there shortly to start dinner." She says turning to me, and I nod as she kisses my forehead

She then turns back to Mr. Voight, and says "Now let's go check on Erin, shall we?"

He just nods, and takes a step before turning his head to me, not saying anything. He is about to open the door when I say "Mr. Voight." Getting his attention "With all due respect sir, don't you think I've thought about what you said before. Cause I have. Matter of fact, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, and about how if I was there with her, this wouldn't have happened. I blame myself, and I wanted to distance myself from her, but she called me today, and she asked me to come here, and to get on the bed with her, and honestly I'd do it again if she asked."

He nods again, before walking into the room with my mom, then the door closes behind them, and I make my way out of the hospital and wait for my brother to pick me, and take me home.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Jay's POV

It has been five days since I had last seen her. I had tried to go back to visit her the next day because she text me to come back, but her dad was standing outside her room talking on his phone, and he had warned me to stay away while she was in the hospital. So I text her

Jay-Hey so it turns out I'm not able to come, I hope you're not too mad

I saw the three little grey bubbles floating on my screen indicating she was typing her reply, then it disappears before her message appears

Erin- Oh Okay

That was it, just "Oh Okay". I was tempted to call her, but I thought I'd just leave it at that, and just keep my distance like I was told. So I hadn't gone back to the hospital, even when she text me or called for me to. I was going to earn Hank Voight's respect, and his trust one day. If this is how I start then so be it.

I was just getting home from soccer practice, and I was greeted by our very rambunctious puppy. We got Leo about two weeks ago from our local humane society, our mom had seen him on the news one morning and decided to go and adopt him without telling anyone including our dad. I had been asking to adopt a dog for a while now, and Leo was awesome. He was mainly mine and my mom's seeing as how we were the only ones who took care of him. I took him for runs, fed him, and cleaned up after him. We fell into a routine rather quickly. We were told that Leo is about eight months old, and he was guessed to be some kind of Pit Bull, Golden Retriever Mix. He looked mostly Pit Bull, but instead of short hair he has long hair. He followed me everywhere, especially when he knew it was time for his run. I went to put my gym bag in my room, before heading back downstairs, grabbing Leo's leash before clipping it to the ring on his collar, then we walk out the front door. Just as we're walking down the front steps of our house, I see her walking out of her house, and towards us.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

I was released from the hospital today, all of my stitches were already taken out except for the ones on my thigh, that needed some more time to heal. The doctors had sent me home with some antibiotics and after my dad told them I couldn't sleep, they also put me on some kind of other pill that would help me sleep. This medicine certainly worked, maybe too well. I'd only be asleep for what felt like five minutes before the nightmares would come, but unlike before when I'd wake up sweating, I couldn't wake up. I started hiding the pills under my tongue until I was able to spit them out, going back to pretending I was sleeping. The only thing that let me sleep, wasn't answering my texts, or calling me back, and he hadn't come back to the hospital since that day. I had this sinking feeling that maybe he didn't want to be with me, maybe I was too demanding or dependent, I didn't want to come off as weak. But whatever the reason, I still wanted to talk to him. We had only been home for all of thirty minutes when my dad had been called into work,

"Are you going to be ok until your brother gets home from practice?" He asks as soon as he hangs up his phone

"Yes dad I'll be fine." I answer with sigh

"Alright kid, but you'll be sure to call if you need anything?"

"Yes dad."

"Alright I'll be working late, so here's some money so the two of you can order some food."

"Ok thanks."

With that he walked out the door, and down the drive way, into his truck. Once his truck was no longer in sight, I decided to go, and see Jay. Just as I was making my way out of our front door, I look to see Jay exiting his house, with a very anxious puppy pulling on the lime green leash in Jay's hand. I hadn't actually met the Halstead's puppy yet, but Justin told me about him. As I walked closer to the two of them, I got to see just how cute the puppy was as he sat next to Jay, very obediently, both of them facing me. He had medium length golden hair, white paws, a white stripe going down the middle of his chest and face, and an adorable chocolate nose, but what stood out the most to me was the puppy's eyes. His eyes were that beautiful blue green color, almost matching Jay's exactly. I finally meet the two of them on their front lawn

"Hey" I say looking at Jay now

"Hey" He says as he looks from me to the puppy who is starting to pull on the leash again, trying to jump up to greet me. Jay gives him a stern "No." which causes him to sit back down. He then returns his gaze back to me.

"Can I pet him?" I ask and he looks confused, maybe wondering why I'm asking but he just nods his head. I stick my hand out slowly letting him sniff me, before I go to scratch his chin, I then crouch down towards him, and start talking to him.

"So you must be Leo, you're so cute, yes you are." I continue to pet Leo, his tail wagging like crazy, and he stands up and starts to lick my face. I look up at Jay, who's just standing there looking down, giving us a little smirk.

"What?" I ask him

"Nothing." He says laughing

"Seriously Jay what's so funny?"

"What voice is that?" He asks still laughing

"I don't know, I can't help it, I kind of have to talk like that for babies and puppies." turning to look at the playful puppy again "Isn't that right Leo?" I say as I try hiding my face that I'm sure is turning red

"Well it sounds like you sucked a whole tank of helium." He says to me, I punch the outside of his thigh, and he rubs it, and says "Ow, ok I'm sorry, but to be honest it's actually really cute." His comment just makes me blush even more, and there's no hiding it

"I haven't heard from you in a couple days, I didn't know you were getting out today." He says to me

"Well I tried texting or calling you, but when you didn't answer, or call back after a few times, I kind of got the hint." I say looking down at the puppy, as I stand up.

"Look I…I wanted to come, and hang out with you, but I…I didn't think your dad would like that."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, and he just shrugs, looking down at his feet.

He says "What do you think I'm talking about?"

I just stand there stunned, not knowing what to say, as I think of all the things my dad could of said to him.

"I um..I should probably take him for his run before he chews through his leash." He says with a little chuckle, both of us looking at the puppy, then looking at each other again.

"I'm glad to see you're home. I'll see around Er." He says, before jogging off, looking down at Leo, who was keeping up with his owner, but he kept his gaze on me. I head back to my house.

XXXXXX

The next morning, I purposely wake up early, making sure I don't miss my dad. I've been wanting to ask him what he said to Jay since yesterday, but I didn't want to bring it up at three in the morning when he finally got home to get some sleep. I go to the bathroom first, before making my way down to the kitchen. The smell of fresh coffee wafting my nostrils, as I walk down the stairs. When I get to the kitchen, my dad is already sitting at his usual spot at our small kitchen table, nursing a mug of coffee, and reading a case file, presumably from their current case.

"Morning kid." He says to me, still not looking up from the file in front of him.

"Morning pop." I say grabbing a mug of my own, and pouring myself some coffee.

"Why are you up so early? You've been taking your sleeping pills right?" He asks

"Yes dad, I just took them early last night." I lie not wanting to talk about it any longer, I cut straight to the chase "Dad can I ask you why you don't want me hanging out with Jay?"

He looks at me then, and I can tell he's thinking about how to respond "Erin I have nothing against Jay, but I know where this headed, and what he wants with you, and I'm actually looking out for him here. He's a good kid Erin, and his parents are good people, good friends, and I don't want to piss them off, when you decide to move on from him, and break his heart."

"Wow thanks for the vote of confidence dad, good to know that my own father thinks I only date guys, until something better comes along, and since when can you see the future?" I yell, placing my mug on the counter

"Erin Lindsay Voight watch your tone."

"No dad, how do you I'm going to break his heart? How do you know he won't break mine?" I gasp then covering my mouth with my hands before bringing them back down to the counter, "Or here's a crazy concept what if neither of us get our hearts broken?" He lets out a huff as his phone rings, and I start to walk back to my room, he catches my arm gently "We're going to finish this conversation later." I snatch my arm away from him, and walk away. Around fifteen minutes later, he yells "I'll see you kids later, call if you need anything." Then I hear the front door close, and seconds later, you can hear his truck start and then take off. I lay there on my bed for a few more minutes before going to take a shower. When I get out, I wrap a towel around myself, and walk into my room. I'm looking through my drawers for something to wear, when I hear a bark, then another one, followed by a familiar laugh, and then I hear two big splashes, I look out my window, and I can see Leo swimming around in the pool with a orange dog toy, Jay following close behind him trying to get the toy out of the dog's mouth. I stand there watching them, my heart swelling at the pure innocence of the moment. I throw on underwear, a pair of soffe shorts, and a tank top, opting not to wear a bra, cause though the stitches were out, my boobs are still tender where I was cut. Just as I pull the tank top on, and return to the window, there's a knock at my door...

XXXXXX

 **A/N: Sorry for the super sucky cliffhanger, but I had to cut this chapter in half otherwise it was going to be like 4,000 words, but the good thing is the next chapter is done. I hope you like this half, and I'll be sure to update again asap. Please review, let me know your thoughts. Thanks**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 _I'm looking through my drawers for something to wear, when I hear a bark, then another one, followed by a familiar laugh, and then I hear two big splashes, I look out my window, and I can see Leo swimming around in the pool with an orange dog toy, Jay following close behind him trying to get the toy out of the dog's mouth. I stand there watching them, my heart swelling at the pure innocence of the moment. I throw on underwear, a pair of soffe shorts, and a tank top, opting not to wear a bra, cause though the stitches were out, my boobs are still tender where I was cut. Just as I pull the tank top on, and return to the window, there's a knock at my door….._

"Come in Justin." I say turning to face the door, knowing it could be my brother

"Hey sis, I was going to go hang out with Jay, since we have off of practice today. Do you want to join us?"

"Oh I don't know Justin, I wouldn't want to be the third wheel, and interrupt your guys' bromance."

"That's real funny Erin." He chuckles "but seriously you should come hang out with us."

"Ok I'll be down in a little bit, I just have to take my meds, and cover my stitches." I say, he then nods before walking off. I do what I said I was going to do, before heading over to the Halstead residence myself. When I get there, I go to sit on one of their lounge chairs, and Leo immediately climbs out of the pool, and running over to me, then shaking, and getting me all wet. I thank him, while petting him, and we all laugh when attacks my face with tons of puppy kisses

"You're not going to come in Er?" Jay asks

"I can't." I answer pointing down to my thigh, and he just nods

"Leo come, come on Leo I got your chuck it." He then says waving the orange toy in the air, Leo looks at him briefly before turning his attention back to me, then he climbs onto the lounge chair, he lays down, so his body is behind me, but he wraps his head and neck around my side, and lays his head on my lap, and I just continue to pet his head. Jay places the toy at the edge of the pool, shaking his head at his dog

"Leo you're a trader." Jay says to his sleeping puppy, he gives me a grin, before he swims off to grab a ball for him, and Justin to play catch with. We stay out there for about another forty five minutes, until it starts raining, and we decide to go inside, and watch a movie. Jay was ordering a pizza, while Justin finds a movie that we'll all enjoy. He picks some kind of horror film, and about twenty minutes later Jay comes down to his basement with the pizzas, I take two pieces, and the two of them eat the rest. We all get situated, Justin is all sprawled out on the smaller of the two couches of to the side of the room, and Jay and I are sitting on the couch in the middle of the room.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

We're about half through the movie, and we had all finished our pizza. Justin had fallen asleep almost instantly after finishing his food, not even being able to take his plate to the garbage, leaving me to do it, when I took mine and Erin's, I grab her a blanket on my way back, seeing her shiver here and there since we've been down here. I bring the blue fleece back to the couch with me, where she's sitting at one end, leaning into the arm, her legs off to the side of her, but bent in close to her body, as if she's trying to take up the least amount of room possible. I wrap the blanket around her shoulders

"Thank You" she says

"Of course." I say, as I sit down somewhere in the middle of the couch, and I turn my attention back to the movie

"Can he come up here?" She asks suddenly, causing me to look at her, and I just take a few seconds to process what she asked,

"Yeah, yeah he can come up here." I finally answer

"Come on Leo." She says patting the spot in between us, and I smile at the two of them, as he jumps up, and lays next to her, and puts his head on her legs

"He seems to really like you."

"Yeah it seems he does." She answers, looking down at him, petting his head, and then she yawns

' _I don't blame him.'_ I think to myself, before thinking to ask

"You look exhausted, have you been sleeping?"

"What are you trying to say Halstead?" She asks, looking at me, and raising one of her eyebrows

"Nothing, you look great, I'm mean, you know it's just the last time we really talked, you admitted that you hadn't been sleeping, I was just wondering if that's gotten any better, or if you talked to the doctors about it?"

"My dad brought it up to them, and they prescribed me some kind of medication but I haven't been taking them, because they make the nightmares worse, so I've been spitting the pills out, and just pretending to sleep again, the only time I've been able to sleep without any nightmares was." She answers quietly, again looking at Leo. I place two fingers under her chin, and gently push up, getting her to look me in the eyes.

"Was when Er?"

"Was when you were there and laying down with me, and I know that sounds crazy cause it was only for like twenty minutes, but it really has been the best sleep I've gotten in the last week."

"Why do you think that sounds crazy?"

"I don't know, it just does."

"I don't think it sounds crazy." I say, and she just lets out a hum at that

"Leo off, come on bud get off the couch." I say pushing my puppy off the couch gently. Erin looks at me confused

"I thought you said he could be up here?"

"He can, and he can come back up in second, but I think we should try something."

"Try what?" She asks, that confused look never leaving her face.

"Lay down with me." I say as I think of the similar words Erin said to me the day at the hospital

"What, I don't know Jay?"

"Come on Er, just try it, it might help." I say, she looks like she's thinking about it

"Are you going to try and play scrabble with me?"

I laugh at her question thinking back to that night a month and half ago, right before her birthday.

' _It was going on two in the morning, and neither one of them had showed any signs of being tired. They were talking about anything and everything, and somehow they had got on the topic of sex. Erin had admitted that she lost her virginity about six months ago, and he could tell that she was going to ask him when he lost his. He sat there thinking if he should lie or not. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he actually missed when she asked._

" _Mmm what'd you say Er?" He asked_

" _I said what about you?" she asked in return_

" _Oh umm well Ali had asked me to come and play scrabble once at her house, when her parents weren't home but I..I uh never went."_

" _Shut up, so you're a-"_

' _Please don't say it.' He thought in his head_

" _You're a virgin." She said to which he just nodded, no longer being able to look at her, until she said_

" _Hey Jay, look at me. It's actually refreshing to know someone who doesn't fall into the stereotypes, who doesn't give into the pressure. It's nothing to be ashamed of, I wish I would have waited to play scrabble with the right person. Honestly I envy you. Take your time, don't rush into anything." He just smiled at her with that._

"I will be the perfect gentleman." I answer as I break from my flashback "Besides your brother is sleeping right there."

We both chuckle "Ok" she says, but she doesn't move. I move over a little then laying down, and getting comfortable before lifting my arm up. She crawls from her spot and over to my right side so she's in between me and the back of the couch. She lays down, and puts her head on my chest, her arm laying across my abdomen, her left leg is positioned just outside my right one, and she throws her right leg over mine. I wrap my arm under her much like I did at the hospital, and I start to draw circles on her back, and she traces the muscles of my torso. She looks up at me, and I'm so tempted to kiss her, but I hold back, not sure of what her reaction would be.

"Can Leo come back up here now?" She asks sweetly

"Yeah." I answer, and I'm grateful for the wide couch, as my fifty pound puppy jumps up, and lays half on me and half on Erin.

"Are you ok, he's not hurting you right?" I ask her concerned

She giggles "No Jay he's fine, he's not hurting me."

"Ok."

It's not long before she falls asleep, and sometime shortly after that I fall asleep too. I get woken up by Justin shaking my shoulder, I rub my eyes with my left hand before turning to look at the clock on the wall, figuring that we had been sleeping like that for about an hour and a half, because it was now just going on two in the afternoon.

"Good Morning did you have a good nap?" Justin jokes

"What the hell did you wake me up for?"

"I just wanted to let you know, I was going to head home, but I'll call you guys when our dad should be getting back."

"Why did you have to wake me up for that?" I ask annoyed

"So that you know to listen for when your phone rings, it'll probably me telling her to get home."

"Ok, great, well if that's all can you shut the light back off as you're walking out?"

"Yeah" he says and I'm just about to close my eyes again when he comes back and says

"Hey man, you should look at your phone too."

I groan, but quietly trying not to wake Erin. "Justin." To which he says

"Alright I'll leave you alone now."

I fall back to sleep quickly, and get another couple hours of sleep, before my phone rings, and Justin tells me how their dad is about to leave work. I kiss the crown of her head before gently coaxing her from her sleep. Eventually she wakes up, and sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes

"Thanks." She says in her sleep cloaked voice

"I'm glad I could help." She leans in then, and kisses my cheek, before kissing Leo's head and getting off the couch.

"I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, see ya Er." And with that she was gone. I just stayed there for a little bit, before remembering that Justin said to look at my phone when he left earlier. I yawn while clicking the home button, and type in my passcode. I go to photos, and I that's when I see it. The very bottom picture is what I click, and the photo enlarges. The picture is of us in our previous position. All three of us sleeping, Erin's head on my bare chest, her right leg still draped over mine, her right arm is laying around Leo, who was sandwiched between us and her hand is grasping my left one, laying on my stomach, my head is turned to the right, resting ever so slightly against the top of hers, and both of us have a small sleepy smiles on our faces. I admire it a little longer, before sending it to Erin. She replies a few minutes later, with nothing but a heart eye emoji. I smile down at my phone, wishing she was still here in my arms.

XXXXXX

A/N: To any of you young readers out there, I'm not going to turn this into a lecture, but you really shouldn't feel pressured to do anything you don't feel comfortable doing. If your "friends" are trying to get you to do something before you're ready are they really your friends? You're young, and there's no need to rush. And if you are playing scrabble, please be safe about it. OK mini rant over, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I also hope you all had a great weekend. Please leave reviews, I love hearing your thoughts. I'm working on the next chapter now, and I'll try to update tomorrow, but we'll see….Much Love.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry for the mistakes!**

XXXXXX

Chapter 15

Jay's POV

It's been almost two weeks since Erin was released from the hospital, and we've had a couple more days where she's come over to sleep while her dad was at work, and last night she even lied and told him she was going to spend the night at Kim's after spending the day with her, but she instead came to my house around six, when our parents were all still at work, and spent the night in my room with me. I wake up before her like always, and we're in our usual position, except Leo is sleeping by her legs, and not between us, so our bodies are as close as possible. She starts to stir in my arms, and I just continue looking down at her, as her eyes flutter, her lashes tickling my chest. Then she brings her hand up to rub the sleep from her eyes, before she moves her head to look up at me.

"Good morning." I say to her

"Morning." She says quietly

"D'you sleep ok?"

"Great actually."

"Good."

"What time is it?" She asks

"It's…quarter to eight." I answer looking at my phone for the time

"So it's safe for me to go home then." She says, but she doesn't try getting up just stays there drawing patterns on my chest

"Yeah I guess if you want to."

"I don't really want to, but if you're getting sick of me I can go."

"Well…" I pause, chuckling, only speaking again when she sits up, and I gently grab her waist pulling her down just as she was crawling over me to get off the bed, she lands on top of me so where chest to chest, her face is closer to mine than before.

"I'm was kidding Er." I say looking her in the eyes before looking behind her, and asking "Can I be honest with you?"

"Of course."

"I never want you to leave after holding you in my arms while you sleep, I look forward to the next time, the minute your body leaves mine. Not that, that matters to you." I say sincerely

"Why wouldn't it matter to me Jay?"

"I don't know, it's just with your dad and everything I didn't think you wanted the same things I do."

"Jay just because I'd prefer not to piss my dad off, and be grounded again, doesn't mean I don't care about you, that's not going to change, and I think this." She says pointing between us "This proves that, If my dad found out about this, he'd probably kill you." She says laughing

I nod at that, and give her a small smile, both of us taking turns looking at the others lips, as we slowly lean in, we stop, our lips just centimeters apart, and she gives me a smile, before bringing her lips to meet mine, the kisses starts out gentle, and slow, but they soon grow to be more passionate, as her hands come up to grab my face, and my grip on her waist tightens, her tongue tracing my bottom lip, and I open my mouth, we swallow each other's moans as our tongues dance together. I flip us so she's under me, still not breaking our kiss, until we need to catch a breath, and then I peck her lips a few more times, still hovering over her, before moving to lay beside her. Her dimples on full display, and one of her hands comes to lay on her chest as her breathing slowly returns to normal.

"Do you want to do something today?" I ask as she turns to cuddle into my side again, her head resting in the crook of my neck, peppering the softest of kisses there.

"Like what?"

"We could go to the movies, or go get ice cream, or I don't know, just something just the two of us?" I suggest nervously

"Like a date?"

I nod "If you don't want to, that's cool, I uh I just…" my voice cracking surely giving away how nervous she's making me

She giggles, before lifting herself up so she's now hovering over me, she leans down giving me another kiss "What time should I be ready?"

"I don't know, noon?"

She says "ok" giving my lips a few more pecks, before getting off the bed, and grabbing her stuff, then making her way towards the door. She's turning the door knob when I ask

"Wait what do you want to do?"

"I get to pick?" She asks

"Yeah, I'm down for anything, just let me know."

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

"I want to surprise you." I say to him

"What? it was my idea." He says sitting up

"Yeah but you just said I could pick, and you're down for anything, so I want to surprise you."

"Fine." He says

"Ok I'll see you at noon" I say walking out of his room, down the stairs, and out of his house.

I get to my house, and as soon as I open the back door

"Hey sis." Justin practically yells making me jump as I close the door "How was your little sleep over?"

"Great actually, thanks for asking." I say walking past him, making my way towards the stairs

"So you slept ok, you look nice and rested?" He asks

"Yup." I reply, not wanting to look at my brother, otherwise I'd end up spilling where I actually spent the night

"Great, it's good to know Jay's behaving himself."

I whip my head around towards him at that "What?"

"Relax sis, I only know because I just saw you walk from his house, and I also just got off the phone with Kim. You two should probably get your stories straight."

I nod, looking down at my feet

"Well I was actually just heading out, Kim and I are going to go get some breakfast, and then go see a movie, but maybe you and Jay should come with us, like a double date thing…Wow that sounds so weird suggesting that with the two of you, this is definitely going to take some time for me to get used to."

"What's that?"

"You know you and Jay going on dates, or double dating with Kim and I, my best friend and my sister a thing, it's kind of crazy."

"Oh yeah, well Jay and I already have plans for this afternoon, and I know Kim has really missed you these last few weeks, she said so yesterday, but maybe we can do the whole double date thing another time, if today goes well that is."

"Yeah I've missed her too." He says and then I turn to finish walking to the stairs

"Hey Erin, I will get used to it you know, and don't worry I'm sure everything will be fine, I mean he's known you your whole life and yet he's still managed to fall for you."

"Gee thanks Justin." I say sarcastically and he laughs

"But seriously, you have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah that still doesn't help my nerves, but thanks." He lets out a chuckle

"Have fun on your date sis." He says walking towards the front door

"Yeah you too."

I finally make it to my room, having just over three hours to get ready, I go to my laptop looking up the idea I had in mind, I nod to myself, figuring out how much it was and then I book a cab. I shut down my laptop, and then I go to make a shower.

Two and a half hours later, and it looks like a tornado went through my room, I have clothes everywhere, except for on my body, as I pace back and forth between my bed and my closet, still wearing my towel, and a pair of panties. I stop pacing to search through the remaining clothes in the closet, ten minutes later, I find what I didn't know I was looking for, and I let the towel fall from around my body, and get dressed, then walking into the bathroom, giving myself a once over, and then I hear the doorbell, and the butterflies that somewhat settled in my stomach, have seemed to have multiplied, and taken flight again, as I grab my things, and make my way downstairs.

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 **A/N: I know this ending sucks too, and I apologize, I didn't originally have it ending here, but as I started writing, and editing, it just became longer and longer, and I don't want another super long chapter. Please don't hate me, I already have the next chapter, which is their date, and I have it pretty much finished, so I'll update as soon as possible. I'm sorry again, but please leave a review**.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Jay's POV

My hands are sweating, and my heart is racing as I ring the doorbell to the Voight house. I start to panic, and pace in front of the door, as I wait for what seems like hours before the door opens. My jaw drops at the site before me, I always thought she was one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen, but this look, proves that she is the most gorgeous person to walk this earth. Her hair is down, the natural brunette waves falling just past her shoulders; she has on a simple white dress, with grey straps, and the same grey outlining her perfect chest, as well as the bottom of the dress which falls to just above her knees. She slowly walks forward closing the door behind her, and I take the opportunity to completely drink her in. I love that she never wears a lot of makeup as if she has anything to cover up, and what she does wear just magnifies her natural beauty.

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Erin's POV

I get to the door and take a deep before opening it. He's in the middle of pacing as I swing the door all the way open, and then he stops, turning towards me, and I can tell he's taking in my outfit. I do the same, and I smile, as I look at the very attractive guy standing on my front porch, waiting to go on a date with me of all people. He's wearing a grey polo shirt, the top two buttons undone, it matches the shade of grey on my dress almost perfectly, and it fits in just the right way where you can still see the sculpted abs that lay beneath; a pair of dark khaki shorts, and grey canvas shoes giving him a preppy look, that suits him very well.

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Jay's POV

I say the only thing that comes to mind "Wow you look…great."

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself."

"Oh come on, I say you look great and you say I don't look too bad. I know I have rugged good looks, and this outfit just further proves that."

"Wow someone's just a little full of themselves, maybe I need to reconsider this date."

"You can't, there's no going back you already agreed, and you're ready." I chuckle "Besides do you know how long it took for me to get my hair to look this perfect, I didn't just do it to walk back and forth between our houses."

"Shut up" she says shoving my shoulder lightly, and I laugh

"So where are going?" I ask as the cab driver pulls up

"I'm not telling you."

"Oh come on Er, I'm going to find out in a bit anyways."

"Well then I guess you'll find out then." She says as I open the door for her, we both climb in the back and she shows the driver where we're headed; he just nods and says he knows exactly where it is.

"Please Er, just a little hint?"

"You don't like surprises do you?"

"No not particularly."

"I don't particularly like them either." She says as she leans over giving my lips a quick peck

"So you'll tell me then?" I ask raising my eyebrow ever slightly, in a way that makes her heart damn near leap out of her chest

"Nope." She answers, before turning her attention to the window, and I just sigh

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Jay's POV

Fifteen minutes go by, and we spend the rest of the cab ride in silence, and then we pull up to Diversey Miniature Golf Course

"This is it?" I ask as she goes into her wallet to get money, answering my question, I stop her and I go into my pocket to get money, and I hand it to the driver before getting out of the car

"Yeah." She says then looking down at her feet "I saw some golfing posters, among your soccer posters in your room, and thought of this place. If you want to do something else that's fine"

I place two fingers under her chin, and gently push up, getting her to look at me

"Hey its perfect, I love golfing, and even if I didn't, as long as I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are."

She gives me a little smile, and nods, and I grab her hand and walk to the little booth, to get our clubs, golf balls, and then I pay, and we start.

We're on the fifth hole, and each one is getting more difficult as we go. We're not keeping score, which is probably for the best, because I don't think she's ever golfed before in her life. She somehow manages to get her ball in the water, which is a good thirty feet away from the hole we're currently on. I go to get her another one, when we realize there's no way of getting hers out of the bright blue pond.

"Were they mad?" She asks when I return with the ball, having a slight pout to her face

"No, it happens all the time, don't worry about it." I say giving her forehead a quick kiss before saying "Can I give you a few tips though." And she just smiles

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Erin's POV

I smile when he asks if he can give me a few tips, and I think who knew it'd be this hard to play some miniature golf. He goes to lay his club on the bench behind us, and places the ball in front of me, before going to stand behind me. He reaches around me, and places his hands over mine, moving them to the proper position on the grip of the club. His head is on my shoulder, and he's telling me why my hands should be where he placed them, I just nod, not really paying attention to his words. Then he moves his head so his mouth is just outside my ear

"You're so not listening to me are you?" He whispers; my knees go weak, and I know if his arms weren't still wrapped around me I'd be on the ground. I bite my lip turning my head towards his

"Not really." I answer

"Alright well I'll let you continue to lose then." He says and he moves to back away

"Wait I thought we weren't keeping score." I ask

"We aren't, but if we were you'd surely be losing."

"No." I say grabbing one of his hands, when removes them from mine "I'll listen I'm sorry."

"Alright." He says giving me a gentle kiss just below my ear, and that along with the heat of his breathes there, causes the familiar throbbing between my legs, and this combination of a dull ache and butterflies to erupt in lower abdomen. He finishes giving me his mini golfing tips, and actually backs away, allowing me to hit the ball, and it takes all of me to hold in the whimper that wanted to come, at the loss of contact. I cool down some as we continue on with the course, and eventually finish. We turn in our clubs and golf balls, and start to walk to the next part of our date. We're walk for about twenty minutes, before arriving at Leona's, a little ice cream parlor about fifteen minutes away from our neighborhood. We walk up to the window, and I order my mint chocolate chip, then turning to Jay, but he's just looking as his feet kicking around a pebble.

"Jay aren't you going to get some?"

"Uh I can't have ice cream." He says shyly

I step closer to him, I stand on my tippy toes, and whisper into his ear "Their ice cream is dairy free, so you can have some if you want." He just looks at me shocked, before giving me one of his famous grins I love some much, and I give him a smile in return, as I nod towards the board with the list of flavors. He orders the cookies and cream. I pay this time, and then we start walking home, eating our ice cream as we go.

"How'd you know?" He asks about five minutes into our walk

"Know what?"

"How'd you know about me being lactose intolerant?"

"Jay we've known each other our whole lives."

"Yeah, I just, I don't know I didn't think you'd remember something like that."

"Well I do."

"Thanks."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"For today, I had a lot of fun."

"Yeah me too." I say looking at him, and I laugh at the smudge of ice cream he has on his nose. I stop, and say "Jay you have some ice cream right here." Pointing at the same spot on my nose, he goes to wipe it off with his arm, and somehow completely misses, and I notice we didn't grab any napkins, so I lean in and kiss the white cream off of his nose, and then I move back a little so our faces are a few inches apart. He brings up the hand not holding the ice cream cone, and cups the side of my face, bringing me closer to him, before kissing me, we stay there for a few minutes, before breaking apart, our foreheads resting against each other's briefly. We then continue our journey home. I can see my dad's truck in the driveway as we near our houses, he must of gotten done with his case early.

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Hank's POV

My unit and I just got done with an open and close case. So we all decided to end home, and spend time with our kids, before they start school again in a couple weeks. Except when I get home, I notice that neither of my children are home, so I decide to do some cleaning while I wait for them to return. Dusting and vacuuming, and then I make my way to the kids rooms wanting to wash their sheets, and put on fresh ones, something they usually do themselves but I'm here, so I can do it today. I already got Justin's and now I'm onto Erin's. When I start removing the sheet I hear something hit the floor, and I look around before spotting what it was that fell. I pick up the little bag, and instantly abandon my task, because I hear the front door close, and my daughter call for me.

"Dad?" She asks

I walk down the stairs holding the baggy in my hand "What is this Erin?"

"Dad I…I can explain."

"Yeah you better Erin, these are supposed to help you sleep and get better." I say throwing the bag at her lightly, which she catches

"Yeah they're supposed to but they don't."

"Erin you're taking the pills, and I will be making sure you do." I say and she nods, handing me the bag back as she walks past me to go to her room.

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It's been a few weeks since I found the stash of pills that Erin wasn't taking. School has started, and the kids have crazy schedules with soccer and volleyball. I'm here every night to help with homework, and make she takes her meds, then I stay to make sure she falls asleep, before usually going back to work. But tonight is different, tonight we don't have any active cases, so I stayed home. I'm downstairs in my den, watching the news, when I hear one of the most blood curdling screams I've ever heard, even in all my years on the force. A scream that's coming from Erin, and when I get to her room, nothing I do helps.

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 **A/N: Sorry for all the mistakes, and for those of you asking for more intimate moments between Erin and Jay, that won't be for a little bit, but I will have it I promise. I hope you're still enjoying this story. Please review, let me know your thoughts. Thanks**


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 _It's been a few weeks since I found the stash of pills that Erin wasn't taking. School has started, and the kids have crazy schedules with soccer and volleyball now. I'm here every night to help with homework, and make she takes her meds, then I stay to make sure she falls asleep, before usually going back to work. But tonight is different, tonight we don't have any active cases, so I stayed home. I'm downstairs in my den, watching the news, when I hear one of the most blood curdling screams I've ever heard, even in all my years on the force. A scream that's coming from Erin, and when I get to her room, nothing I do helps._

I sit on her bed, holding her in my arms, rocking her back and forth gently, much like I did when she was a little girl whenever she had a nightmare. I try to calm her whispering "shh I'm here kid, dad's here." About an hour later, and she still hasn't calmed down, and at some point Justin came to her room, and stood in the door.

"Dad I think I know how to calm her down." He says to me

"Ok what is it?" I ask

"You have to promise me you won't get mad!"

"I'm not promising anything until you tell me what your plan is."

"Just please don't get mad."

"Justin."

"I'm going to call Jay, and ask him to come over."

"What absolutely not, that will not be happening. Just go back to bed Justin."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep knowing she's like that." He says pointing at his sister as she shakes, and whimpers in my arms "Please dad."

"Fine call him." I say sadly, finally giving in as I look down at my daughter

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Jay's POV

I get woken up by my phone ringing beside me, and I look at the alarm clock on the night stand. It's three in the morning _, 'who is calling me at this time'_ , I think as I rub my eyes before flipping the phone over, and seeing Justin's name flash across the screen, I press the button on the side declining the call. I almost fall back to sleep when it starts ringing again, this time I answer

"Justin what the fuck? Why are you calling me at three in the morning?" I ask him

"I'm sorry man, but we need your help."

"What do you mean? Who's we?" I ask confused

"My dad and I, uh."

"I swear to you Justin if this is some kind of joke, I will-"

He cuts me off "It's not a joke Jay, it's Erin, she's been having really bad nightmares again, we haven't been able to calm her for over an hour, you're the only one I could think of who might be able to help."

"I'll be right over." I say before ending the call. I throw on a pair of sweatpants over my boxers, and a t-shirt. I look over at Leo who has been sitting by the side window whimpering for a while, and now I know why; I pat his head, before rushing out of my room, closing the door behind me. I text my mom, and then head over to the Voight's.

When I get there Justin's already at the front door, waiting to let me in, and then we go straight to Erin's room. She's leaning into her dad, her face wet from a combination of sweat and tears, she's shaking, and whimpering, but she's still asleep. I walk closer, and then sit on the edge of her bed next to where is sitting, and he stands, letting me take his spot. He steps back, and stands next to Justin in the doorway, as I settle back against Erin's headboard, and gather her in my arms. She's still whimpering, when I start to whisper against her forehead.

"Hey it's me Jay." I say, pausing for a moment thinking of what to say, before talking to her again "I wish I could fight this for you, and take away this pain, but I can't so I need you to be the strong girl I know you to be, cause truth is Er you're the strongest person I know, so don't let them win, don't let them take a piece of you, I'll be here when you make it through, I'll be right beside you baby." I run my fingers through her hair, and gently rock her in my arms. One of her hands is gripping my arm tightly, the other coming around my back; fisting my shirt. We're like that for another fifteen minutes before her breathing evens out more; she's stopped whimpering, and sweating. Her grip on my arm and shirt have loosened slightly, and I know her nightmare is gone for now. Justin nods his head at me, before walking off I'm assuming to go back to his room and sleep. stays there for a few minutes longer before walking over to the bed, and runs his thumb gently over Erin's cheek.

"I wasn't sure about Justin calling you over here, but you just managed to soothe her in the matter of fifteen minutes." He says not moving his gaze off of his daughter "Look Jay, I don't know what is that has been going on between you two, and I honestly don't want to, but I do want you to know that if you ever hurt her in anyway it'll be the last thing you do."

"Yes sir." I reply, and he nods at me, then he turns to walk out of the room.

"I'm not going to hurt her."

He gives me a rare grin "I know you won't kid." He says as he surprises me, closing the door.

"He scares the shit out of me." I say to the sleeping girl in my arms as I kiss her forehead. I manage to push most of her umpteen pillows off of her bed, before moving us over a little more so I can lay my legs out on the bed, getting into a position that's more comfortable, and one that's become quite familiar. She's snuggled into my side, her head on my chest, and one of her legs splayed out over mine; _'there now we're just missing Leo.'_ I think as I turn my head to the side, looking out her small side window, and straight across to my house, and I see my puppy with his head laying on the window sill.

"Our girl's ok buddy." I say to him quietly, still hoping he heard me. I turn my attention back towards her, and I kiss her forehead again, letting my lips linger there for a few moments, before leaning my head back against the headboard. I don't know when I fell asleep, but the next thing I know I'm waking up, a smile instantly finding a way on my face, even before I've opened my eyes.

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Erin's POV

I wake up, immediately thinking about how much I love being wrapped his strong arms, and having my head lying on his chest, just over his beating heart. When I open my eyes, I look up at him sleeping, and then I move my hand under the shirt he's wearing, and I trace his abs, my hand trails further down until I feel the start of the light line of hair there that continues south, and disappears under the waistband of his boxers sticking out of the top of his sweat pants, I want so badly to follow the hair, but I decide against it, slowly moving my hand back up his abs, and towards his chest. Looking back up at his face, I notice he's smiling now, and that he is no longer sleeping. So I move up to give him a quick kiss.

"Good morning." I say to him

"Morning Er." He says, rubbing his eyes before opening them, and looking down at me.

"What time is it?" He asks while picking up his phone, and looking for himself, and I could feel his heart rate quicken.

"Relax babe we have off of school today, remember? they have some teacher day or something like that." I say trying to relax him, but he seems to tense a little before relaxing.

"What did you just say?" He asks with a smile on his face

"I said we have off of school today for a teacher day or something." Purposely not giving him I know he what he wants to hear, it's the first time I used a pet name with him

"You know what I'm talking about." He smirks

"You don't like it?" I ask teasingly

"I do, and I want to hear you say it again."

"I could say the same about what you called me this morning. I actually thought it was all a dream, but when I woke up to you, I realized it wasn't."

"You heard me?"

I nod against his chest, looking away from him "Just a little bit of what you said."

He brings his hand up to cup my jaw, moving my head so I'm looking at him again "If you ever want to talk about, I'll always be here to listen." He says to me seriously, and I just nod, blinking away the tears forming in my eyes

"Do you dream of me a lot?" He asks quirking a brow at me, obviously trying to lighten the mood

"No not really." I say trying to stay serious, but I fail, as a giggle escapes my lips

"Is your dad still home?."

"He already left for work, he poked his head in on his way out, and said that he'll talk to me later about what happened, but it seemed I was in good hands."

"Well in that case, can we go back to sleep?" He asks, and I laugh at that

"Yeah I guess I could go for a few more hours of sleep, but I have to pee quick."

"Ok go to the bathroom, and pee then."

"Don't go anywhere, ok?"

"I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else."

I come back out, and jump into my bed, immediately crawling back over to him, and snuggling into his muscular, tall and half asleep form, I kiss the spot above his heart, before closing my eyes and going back to sleep. We get another few hours' sleep before waking up again. We talk for a little bit, before he heads home, and I go shower. When I get out, I get dressed in a t shirt and shorts, before sitting on my bed with my back pack and start to do my homework. I'd been studying, and working on my assignments for a couple hours, when I hear a knock on my door.

"Come in." I say, the door opens revealing my dad

"Hey kid, I just wanted to talk about last night."

"If you don't mind dad I'd like to finish my homework." I say trying to avoid the topic

"and I'll let you finish your work after we talk." He says and I close my history book, and push it off to the side

"Ok what?"

"Is that why you stopped taking the pills?" He asks

"Yeah, but they had never been that bad."

"I'm sorry kid, I should of listened to you."

"Yeah." Is all I can think to say in response to him

"I'm not going to make you keep taking the pills, but I do want you to talk to someone about these nightmares Erin."

"Ok, is that it? Can I finish my homework now?"

"Will you go talk to someone about the nightmares?"

"If you think it'll help, and you'll stop making me take the medication, then yes dad, I'll go talk to someone."

"Yeah I do think it'll help, and we can flush the pills if you want."

"Ok deal, now if you don't mind." I say lifting my book back up and into my lap

"Alright I'll leave you to it, I'll call you down when dinner's ready."

"Ok thanks dad." I say as he walks to the door, once he's in the hall he closes it behind him, and I continue on with my homework, completing it just before he calls Justin and I down for dinner. We get our plates, and then go to sit in the dining room, and we talk, and we laugh, and I enjoy being able to forget about the terrors that came for me in the middle of the night, even if this is just temporarily. When we're all finished we pack up the left overs, and do the dishes as a family, before going to the living room to watch a movie. Both my dad and brother fall asleep, about half way through the movie, so I go to cover them with the throws lying on the backs of the couch and chair, before heading to my room. I do my nightly routine, combing my hair, brushing my teeth, and washing my face. Then I switch off of the lights, so the only light in my room is coming from outside. As I slide under the covers, I hear my phone vibrate on the night stand next to my bed. It's a text from Jay

Jay- Goodnight Er.-He sent with the sleeping emoji, and three of the kissy face ones

Erin-Wow creeper, were you watching me?

Jay-Look I wasn't going to rat the poor guy out, but it was Leo that was actually watching you, I think he's got a crush on you.-He sends back quickly with a picture of his puppy sitting on his bed, looking out the window he used to talk to me from.

Erin-Aww well as cute as that may be, I'm sorry to break it to you Leo you're not exactly my type.

Jay-He said he understands.

Erin-Haha I'm glad

Jay-But he does want to know what your type is?

' _You, you Jay Halstead are my type'_ I think in my head, and before I can talk myself out of it I send "Leo" a message

Erin-There's this one guy Leo, you might know him, he's unbelievably sweet, a perfect gentleman, he's jock. He's got what he calls rugged good looks, brown hair, blue-green eyes, and freckles.- I send it with a little winky face at the end, and it's not long before I see the three little grey dots indicating that he typing his response

Jay-Leo-Nope I don't think I know him, what's this guy's name?

Erin-Jay- It's a couple minutes, and I don't hear anything back from him, and I start to panic a little, but then he calls, and I answer immediately

"Hey" he says

"Hey" I respond

"I just wanted to say that you're my type too." He says, and my breath catches in my throat, as I look out the window, and see him, his head turning towards me at the same time.

"Oh I'm sorry I was talking about another Jay, I probably should of been a little more specific." I say, not able to hold in a laugh

"Haha you're funny."

"Alright well as much as I want to talk to you, I'm still super tired."

"Well I guess I should let you go to sleep then."

"Goodnight babe." I say

"Goodnight baby." He says before I end the call, and I slide down, and fall asleep almost instantly, with a smile on my face.

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 **A/N: Ok sorry again, sorry for the mistakes, and for this chapter being super cheesy, but I hope to make up for it next chapter. I know this is probably one of my worst chapters, but if you could still review, your comments make me feel better, and inspire me to keep going, so leave me your thoughts. Please and thank you.**


	19. Chapter 18

A/N: Thank you to those of you that continue to leave reviews, your kind words help me stay motivated to keep writing. I also just wanted to let you know that this chapter jumps ahead about six months. I've been really excited to write this out, so I hope you enjoy it.

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Chapter 18

Erin's POV

' _Life's been good, like my dad promised he stopped making me take those awful pills, and I kept up my end, and have been going to talk to someone about my attack, and the resulting nightmares. At first I wasn't too happy about going to a therapist, but with each session, I was able to get a little more comfortable, and talk a little more openly, so much so that I'd go four times a week, after school, and volleyball. But now I've cut back, only going to see her twice a week. My dad and brother have been great through it all, but Jay has been the best, and he's really been the reason I've gotten to this point. I'm nowhere near being "ok" or "healed" but with my support system, it gets better with every day. I know I will always carry the attack with me, but I don't want it to weigh down on me. I hope one day it'll just be a distant memory, and that with the help of my family, including Jay, I overcome the nightmare._ ' I get broken from my thoughts, as the final bell of the day rings, and we are released from class. It also signals the start of Spring Break so everyone is acting extra crazy, excited for the week off of school. I go to my locker, which is conveniently just across the hall from Mrs. Church's room. I have just about everything I need in my backpack when a pair familiar freckled and strong arms wraps around my waist.

"You know it's spring break right babe? So you don't have to bring your whole locker with you." Jays says in between the kisses he places on my neck.

"Did you pay attention at all today, because there are several assignments that are due when we get back." I say to him as I close my locker, and turn around so we're face to face

"No I didn't really pay much attention"

"How'd you pass any of your classes before?" I ask him before standing on my tip toes giving him a kiss, and he instantly moves one of his hands to cup my face, moving his lips against mine, we're only like this for maybe twenty seconds when Justin walks up saying

"Eww gross." We break apart, and I lean my head against Jay's shoulder, and I can feel his head turn towards my obnoxious brother

"Dude grow up." He says to him, and chuckles, and then I lift my head off of him, but don't move otherwise, not wanting to break contact.

"Seriously Justin why do you have to be so childish?"

"Oh come guys it was a joke." He says, wrapping an arm around Kim's shoulders as she walks up to join us, and then we all walk out of the school, and head home. Justin and Kim somehow fall behind us, but I don't mind, enjoying any alone time I can get with my boyfriend.

"Sooo are you nervous for your road test tomorrow?" I ask

"Nope." he answers without hesitance

"Well maybe you should be, I've seen you driving around the neighborhood with your mom, and no offense but once I get my license you will definitely not be the driver if I'm with you." I say

"Oh like you're much better, I've seen you driving around with your dad a few times since you got your temps, and I think your license should come with a caution sign to put on your car, driver's beware."

I punch his arm

"Whatever." I say laughing

"You started it."

"Yeah, and now I'm ending it" The rest of our walk is silent, and we stop in front of his house, and give each other a kiss

"I know you have to take Leo for a run, so I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah unless you want to come with us, it's a really nice day so you won't freeze like you did last time."

"I think I'll take you up on that, just as long as you let me hold his leash, cause the last time I went running with you two, he almost tripped me like five times."

"Oh sure blame the dog for your klutziness."

I punch him again before going to my house to get changed. I pull off my school clothes, and throw on a pair of running leggings, a sports bra, and a thin sweatshirt.

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Jay's POV

I unlock the door, and walk into my house, and Leo comes running to me from his spot in front of the living room window. I guess Erin's not the only klutzy one, as my excited puppy trips and bumps the coffee table, knocking a short glass that was sitting on it, half filled with an amber colored liquid off, and it's as if it falls in slow motion, before hitting the floor and shattering. The noise wakes my dad from his drunken slumber, and looks over at the mess of broken glass, and spilt liquor, and I can almost see the rage course through his alcohol ridden body. He gets up stepping over the glass, and runs over to where Leo stands next to me wagging his tail just as enthusiastically as always. I knew he was going to yell, cause that was just him, if Leo hadn't knocked the glass it would have been something else with my alcoholic father. But I didn't expect him to go and try kicking Leo, thanks to my reflexes, and the fact that in his drunken state his coordination is not exactly on point. He misses him, narrowly and it almost knocks him on his ass, but Leo understood that he was in trouble, and ducked in between my legs, and the staircase behind me. He steps closer to me, his face just inches from mine, and I can smell the fresh scent of alcohol on his breath.

"Move the hell out of the way." He says to me sternly

"Why so you can beat my puppy. No." I say to him

"Jay move the fuck out the way, that mutt needs to be taught a lesson."

"Over a couple drops of alcohol?"

"It doesn't matter the amount, and he broke a glass too." He slurs at me

"Ok and there's a cabinet full of a dozen more just like it. Why don't you just go polish off another bottle, and leave my dog alone, while I clean up the glass." I say, and that's when the first hit comes. He backhands my face, and I can feel the blood trickling down my cheek seconds later. Then another, and another, he just keeps hitting me, and then he stops, and pins me against the wall. I can feel the jagged edge of his wrist watch cutting into the base of my neck.

"I'm your father, and I will not allow you to disrespect me like that."

"The way I see it, you're a fucking alcoholic sperm donor, not my fucking father." I spit out at him, still pinned to the wall, and I can feel him tense at my words, before he punches my gut.

"You ungrateful bastard you-" He slurs, getting cut off by someone knocking at the door, only feet away from us, he releases me, and I just fall to the floor, and I look at the door, seeing him try to straighten up, he turns his head back,

"say anything, and I'll kill that damn dog when I find him" he slurs at me before reaching for the door, and opening it. When he does, I see Erin, and she immediately tries to run for me, seeing me on the floor, but he steps in front of her.

"He's fine, he just tripped on his walk home from school, I'm taking care of him, why don't you head back home Erin." He slurs at her, and even though his body is blocking me from seeing her, I know she's going to get help. The door closes, and he turns back to me

"You know, I always said you're mom over babied you, made you soft, and turned you into a pussy. Now why don't you be a good little girl, and clean up that mess, while I go get another drink, and find the stupid mutt."

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Erin's POV

I run back to my house, after Mr. Halstead slams the door in my face. I'm dialing my dad's number, putting it up to my ear, and listening it ring, when Leo comes running over to me from the direction of the Halstead's backyard. I take the shaken puppy into our house, and try calling my dad's cell again, after getting his voicemail the first time. He answers on the second ring

"Dad you have to help. Please come home right now, he's drunk, and I'm afraid of what he's going to do to him next, please dad please."

"Erin, I'm going to my truck right now, but I need you to calm down, and tell who you're talking about? Who's drunk?" He asks me

"His dad. Dad please hurry."

"I'm on my way Erin. Don't hang up. Tell me whose dad?"

"Patrick, Mr. Halstead he's hurting Jay."

"Ok Erin, I'm almost there."

"Ok dad please hurry."

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A/N: I don't think I'll be able to update again until Monday, because my work schedule is crazy this weekend…Review please and thank you.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

" _I'm on my way Erin. Don't hang up. Tell me whose dad?"_

" _Patrick, Mr. Halstead he's hurting Jay."_

" _Ok Erin, I'm almost there."_

" _Ok dad please hurry."_

Hanks POV *Five minutes later*

"Erin are you still there? I'm only a couple minutes out kid." I say to her, and I just get a sniffle in response

I radio in that I'm responding to a call of domestic violence, also requesting back up.

I get a 10-4, as I pull into my drive way, and run over to the Halstead residence. I bang on the door,

"Patrick." I yell, waiting a second before knocking a little lighter "Patrick I know you're home, your car is the driveway, I just have a quick question for you, come on Patrick." Just as I'm saying his name, the door opens, but it's not Patrick, it's Jay. My blood boils looking at the kid standing before me, fresh cuts, and bruises covering his face, as well as a cut at the bottom of his throat right above his ripped shirt.

"Jay what happened?" I ask

"He's drunk, he was…he was going to hurt Leo." He says, letting out a shaky breath

"Jay where is he now?"

"He's..he's in the kitchen."

"Alright kid, I'm going to take you to my house." I say to him, and he just nods, I go to place my hand on his shoulder, but he flinches, so I retract my hand, before he steps out of his house, and we walk over to my house. Once we're in the house, Erin immediately comes over to us, but still keeps herself a few feet away, taking in her boyfriend's appearance.

"Both of you stay here, I just radioed for an ambulance and it's five minutes out. I'll call your mom, and then I'll have an officer come and take your statement." I say to them

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

There's a knock at the door, and for a moment I just stay in my place on the floor, before getting up to open it. Part of me was expecting Erin again for some reason, but I'm relieved to see Mr. Voight, knowing it was Erin who called him here. I stutter when he asks me what happened, and where my dad was. He then tells me that he's going to take me to his house, and I again feel relief. We walk over to their house, and he says something into his radio on the walk to their front door. We walk in, and Erin walks half way over from her spot in front of the window, where I saw her pacing just seconds ago on the walk over here. One of her hands goes to her mouth, her face soaked from the tears that are still cascading down and onto her chest. Mr. Voight says something else making Erin nod, but her eyes never leave mine. Then it's just the two of us, and then she tentatively walks closer to me, then stops just in front of me. She goes to touch my face, but her hand freezes in place, before she retracts it, resting it by her side. I want to pull her into me, but there's a knock at the door. She goes to open it, and it's the paramedics wanting to check me out.

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Hank's POV

I get back to the Halstead's house, and I let myself in, having left the door open when I took Jay to my house. I walk in and make my way down the hall way, he's standing in the middle of the kitchen, still doing what his son told me he'd been doing, which is drinking.

"Shoulda known t'was you who'd bailed him out, always gotta be the hero uh Hank?" He slurs at me

"I think you've had enough." I say to him, snatching the glass out of his hand, and throwing it into the sink, causing it to shatter, before grabbing the hair at the back of his head, and slamming his face into the kitchen island, while twisting his arm, and pushing his hand into his back, before cuffing both of his hands behind him. He screams out in pain, then letting out evil chuckle

"You know everyone's too soft on these kids now days. Ain't letting them fight for themselves." He slurs at me

"He shouldn't have to fight for himself, especially against his own father. He's fifteen; he's just a kid Patrick." I yell at him

"C'mon Hank, I's just trying to toughen him up."

"Detective Voight." An officer yells from the side of us. I still continue to shove Patrick's face into the granite counter top.

"Detective we got it from here." I just nod before backing off, thinking about my kids, and his too. About how they need me not to kill him, no matter how much I want to, no matter how good it would feel in that moment. So I let Officer Bryan take him into custody. I follow them out, and see the paramedics looking over Jay at the back of the ambulance, and his mother right there beside him. When Linda sees Patrick being escorted out of their house, she walks the short distance from her spot next to her son, and steps in front of her husband before slapping him so hard, you could hear the clap from her hand meeting his face, as it echoed throughout the neighborhood. She didn't say anything to anyone, just turned back around, and walked back over to Jay.

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Jay's POV

I turned around to look at Erin, before exiting her house to go to the ambulance. My mom was just pulling up, as I was sitting at the back of the truck. She comes running over to me, as soon as the car is parked. I still feel shaken up from the encounter with my dad. My mom gasps, when she takes a look at me, saying

"Oh my goodness Jay"

I'm not able to make eye contact with her as the paramedics look me over, and clean up my face, before suggesting that I get stitches on my neck from where his wrist watch cut me. I then go to look at my mom, but she left, when, I don't know, but soon enough, I can hear what sounds like a slap, and I assume it's my mom, then she reappears and says she can take me to get stitches. We're only at the hospital for a maybe an hour, the police take my statement from there and then we go back home.

"Jay sweetie, are you sure you're going to be ok?"

"Yes mom, I'll be ok, I'm going to go look for Leo."

"Ok sweetie, let me know if you need anything."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to talk to Hank at the precinct, I want to know what they're going to do with that animal." She says giving me a hug

"Let me know when you find him, and you should probably take a shower, and try to just relax."

I just nod at her, and then she leaves. I go to my room first in search of my puppy, then searching the rest of the rooms, and the basement, but he is nowhere in the house. I then go outside, thinking he most likely used the doggy door that leads to the backyard, but I still don't find him. I call his name for a few minutes, before I hear my name, and I look in the direction I thought it came from, and I see Erin standing there. She waves her hand towards herself, gesturing for me to come to her. I unlatch the gate to my yard, and make my way over to her. She doesn't say anything, she just turns around, and walks back into her house, and I follow her. We walk through their kitchen, down the hall, up the stairs, and to her bedroom. She opens the door, and there's Leo sleeping so peacefully, curled into a ball on her bed.

"He's been over here since I knocked on your door earlier, he was shaking, tail tucked between his legs and so brought him up here, and just pet him, and talked to him, until he fell asleep." She says to me

"Thanks." I say quietly

"Jay you don't have to thank me." She says and then she sniffles. I look away from Leo, and look at my girlfriend, and I see one lone tear fall from her eye; she's quick to wipe it away.

"Hey Er." I say quietly, placing one of my hands on her hip, and gently turn her to face me. My other hand goes to cup her face, causing her to look at me, our eyes locking.

"I'm ok." Is all I say to her, and those two words seem to make the tears come even more. I move my hand so that both them are resting on either side of her face, I use the pads of my thumbs to wipe her cheeks. I lean in to give her a quick kiss. The kiss is different than those we usually share. This one is one of reassurance, and comfort, for both of us. We break apart when I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket, I retrieve it, keeping one of my hands on her hip, while I look at who's calling me. It's my mom

"Hello." I answer

"Jay, have you found Leo?" She asks

"Yeah umm he was with Erin, she said he ran over to her when she was walking back to her house earlier."

"That's great sweetie, I'm glad he's safe. Are you two home now?"

"No we're still by Erin." I answer

"Oh let me talk to her."

I say "Ok" before handing Erin the phone, and mouthing that she wanted to talk to her, and she just nods.

"Hi Mrs. Halstead." She whispers into the phone, and she nods a few times before talking again

"No thanks needed Mrs. Halstead, and I'll be sure to tell him." She nods again

"Ok see you then." She says before moving the phone away from her ear, pressing the end button, and handing it back to me.

"What'd she say?" I ask her

"She said thank you."

"I got that when you said no thanks needed. What else did she say?" I ask

"She also said you should go home to take a shower, and relax, and that she'll be home in a couple hours with dinner." She answers

I just nod; looking down at the floor. Her hand comes up to my face, her thumb running just below the cut on my cheek.

"You remember how you said, if I ever need someone to talk to that I can come, and talk to you?" She asks, and I nod again

"Well the same goes for you babe, if you want to talk, or yell, or cry I'm here for you." She says, kissing the my cheek, where her thumb had traced just seconds before and it seems that all I can do is nod again

"Can...Can I uh, stay here until my mom gets home?"

"Of course. Why don't you go take a shower, and I'll go get you some clothes from your house." She suggests giving me a light kiss, before leading me over to her bathroom, and showing me how things work, since there's a trick to adjusting the water temperature. She leaves briefly; coming back and giving me a clean towel, and a bottle of men's shower gel.

"Ok I'll go grab you some clothes, and I'll just place them on the vanity."

"Ok." I say taking off my shirt, then the door closes, and I'm alone. I finish undressing, and climb into the shower, and under the stream of warm water, I close my eyes as the water rains down on my head, then my face, before continuing down my body, and through the holes of the silver drain. That's when sobs rack my body, blending in with the water.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

I go to get Jay his clothes, and then run back to my house. I put the clothes on the vanity like I said I would. As I am though, I hear a noise that breaks my heart. It's faint, and I could barely hear it over the sound of the running water. I could hear his sniffling and his shaky breaths. He was crying or sobbing actually. I wanted to help him, so before thinking about it too much, I start to strip myself of my clothes, and then climb in the shower with him. He just stays facing the shower head, his muscular back is to me, his usually confident posture is gone, and has been replaced, as his shoulders are slumped and his back hunched. He doesn't move, almost like he didn't hear the shower door open or close. I walk closer to him slowly, before wrapping my arms his waist, my thumbs instantly tracing soothing circles on his lower abdomen. He gasps when my seemingly cool skin comes into contact with his, which seems to be on fire. I just place gentle kisses to his back in between his shoulder blades. There's nothing sexual about it, I just wanted to comfort him, in the only way I could think to. After about ten minutes, it seemed to have worked, and he calmed down. I squirt a small amount of shower gel to a wash cloth, and started rubbing all over his body, and watched the suds be washed away with the water. No words were exchanged between us, none were needed. We rinse off, then get out, and dry off, before getting dressed. I lead him over to my bed, and we lay together. The roles are reversed as he lies with his head on my chest, his arm wrapped around my stomach, his hand resting on top of Leo's head which is also laying on my stomach and one of Jay's legs comes over both of mine. Minutes later his breathing evens out, I continue to run my fingers through his hair, while placing a gentle kiss to his forehead, like he has so many times before.

XXXXXX

 **A/N: I tried to make this interesting, but I think I bit off more than I could chew with this scenario with Jay. So I'm sorry if you don't like it, and also for any mistakes that you come across. Please review, let me know if you did or didn't like it… I hope everyone had a great weekend, and has an even better week. Thanks**


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Jay's POV

It's been four days since Patrick was arrested. I feel I've been extra…I don't know, anxious I guess you could say, since that day, and it seems to be getting worse by the day. I can't help but think that if my own father doesn't love me, and never has, how or why would anyone else? That day with Erin coming into the shower with me, and comforting me, it was nice, and she's been great but I don't feel I deserve her kindness, her comforting touches or kisses, I don't deserve any of what she's given me. I have this overwhelming sense that I don't deserve love, not from him or my mother, my brother, my best friend or my girlfriend. I don't deserve it. I know how I promised I wouldn't hurt her, and I know that she thought I deserved better but truth is it's her that deserves someone better.

XXXXXX

Erin just gave her birthday present to me, even though my birthday is still a few days away. She got me tickets to the Cubs game today. I gave her a smile for the first time since before. She gave me a weak one in return.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to get me anything." I say looking down at the four tickets in my hand.

"I know it's not anything like what you did for me, but I figured you like to go see them play."

"No of course I'd love to go see them, but-." I say wanting to continue but she cuts in

"Ok the game starts at three, so you still have a few hours, to find some friends to go with you."

"You're not coming?" I ask her confused

"No I figured you want to go with people who actually know what's going on." She says with a giggle, and I just take a moment to think it over, hesitating a little before answering

"No I want you to come with too, maybe we could invite Justin and Kim too, that way you have someone else who has no idea what's going." I joke with her

"Jay you should invite your friends, I just want you to have fun."

"Erin I'd have the most fun with you there." I say to her; trying convince both of us that the statement is true, it causes her to nod so I figure she didn't see through the lie

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

I've been trying to be everything he was for me after my attack, but I feel he's trying to slowly push me away. The way he looks or talks to me, even the way he calls me Erin instead of Er or babe. There's been a shift, so I'm trying not to be too clingy, I can tell he wants space, and I feel that if he asks for it, I'll give it to him, no matter how much it'll hurt.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

Erin asks Justin and Kim if they want to go to the game with us, both of them replying yes. We all agree to meet at my house at two, and then my mom will take us all to the stadium. It's quarter to two, when I get out of the shower, and get dressed. When I'm done getting ready, I head downstairs, and wait for them to get here. When they arrive we all pile into the car and drive to the stadium. Upon arriving we go into the gate closest to our seat, which happens to be right by the store, the four of us go in, and look around. Kim and Erin go off in one direction, and Justin and I in another. We are looking at all different stuff from baseballs to jerseys, and then we get to an end cap with the dog merchandise such as Cubs toys, beds, leashes and collars. I pick out a collar for Leo, because apparently I've become that kind of person that goes to a place, and only gets stuff for my dog. We walk towards where we last saw the girls, wanting to check out, and head to our seats before the game starts. We find them pretty much in the same spot, and I give Erin a little grin, as I see that she not only has the same collar in her hand, but she also has the matching leash too.

"I guess we both decided he needed a new collar, but he can't have one without the other, that lime green would not go with this."

"No he doesn't need both."

"I agree he doesn't need them both." She says putting extra emphasis on need "but I want him to have both if he's getting one." She then says now putting more emphasis on the word want

"Good lord, you two sound like two parents fighting over whether or not their kid needs a new outfit. It's a dog guys." Justin pipes

"Shut up Justin." Kim, Erin and I all say at the same time.

"Alright, but can you go check out, so we don't miss the beginning of the game." He says throwing his hands in the air in surrender; Erin takes the two items to the counter and pays for them, before I have a chance to get back from putting away the collar that I had grabbed

"Here." I say trying to hand her money

"No, I don't want your money."

"Erin come on."

"Thank You." She says sweetly to the cashier as she hands her the receipt, I try handing it over to her again "No Jay."

"thank you again." I say and she just shakes her head, we meet up with Justin and Kim again, before walking to our seats.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

Everything seems to be going good, Justin and Jay are intently watching the game, and Kim and I are just talking amongst ourselves, every once and a while taking a glance at the game, when the everyone else seems excited. I take another glance at Jay, and I can't help the grin that takes over my face at seeing a smile spread wide across his somewhat stubbly face, his green blue eyes having a hint of their usual sparkle back. It's not until after the game ends, that I see the sparkle becomes dimmed again, even though the Cubs won five to one. The four of us were heading towards the exit, and Jay decides to go to the restroom. While we were waiting for him, Kelly Severide walks up to us.

"Hey guys." He says

"Hey Kelly." Kim and I say to him at the same time, causing us to look at each other for a second before turning our attention back to the blue eyed guy in front of us.

"What a game, hey Justin." He says looking at my brother

"Yeah it was awesome." Justin answers, and they talk about it a little more

"hey can I talk to you for a second?" He says looking at me, I just nod shyly

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I walk out of the restroom, and back over to where I left Justin, Kim, and Erin. When I get to them, I only see Kim and Justin.

"Where's Erin?" I ask them, and they both look at each other, before Justin looks at me, and says "Over there." Looking behind me, I follow his gaze, and I see them. Kelly Severide, and Erin standing there talking to each other. Usually I'm not the jealous type, but when I see his hand on her arm, obviously saying something funny, as those dimples I loved so much deepen, and she laughs so loud, it seems to echo through the area we're standing in. Before I can tell myself not to, I walk over to where they're standing, and pushing his hand off of her arm. He looks at me with a look of confusion and anger.

"Come on Erin, my mom's here to take us home." I say, not taking my eyes off Kelly

"Ok I'll be out in just a second, Kelly and I were just talking about something really quick."

"NO I don't want to have to ask her to wait."

"Ok I get that, I'll be right behind you, just go ahead."

"Well then I'll wait right here with you." I say, and she huffs at me before saying

"Fine I'll text you later Kelly, thanks again." She says to him with a smile, before roughly brushing past me to get outside, I open the door for her, and she gets in. We don't anything to each other on the ride home. When we arrive home, we go to her house, and go straight to her room. Justin and Kim, ask her sister to come pick them up to go back to their house. Once in her room, I close the door behind me, and stand there facing her and she sits on her bed.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

"What the hell was that Erin?" He yells at me

"What the hell was what Jay?" I yell back "We were just talking about something."

"Well last time I checked there was difference between just talking about something and flirting. I know Kelly and he's not one to just talk, he's always going after a new girl, and from what I saw it didn't seem like you were exactly rejecting his advances." He yells

"Are you serious right now?" I say, and he looks like he's thinking, so I continue

"Look Jay I don't know what you're going through, or how you're feeling, but I want to help. I want you to talk to me, and let me in, but that, that's not ok."

"I'm fine, I don't need to talk. I'll be just fine." He says to me a little quieter now

"No Jay you're not fine, and that's ok, that's understandable, but you need to let out your emotions. Don't bottle whatever it is that you're feeling up, please just let me help you get through this."

"I can get through this, I can get through it without you." He yells at me

"What are you saying?" I ask already knowing where this is going, and my hearts starts to break at the thought, tears already forming in my eyes.

"I'm saying…" He says looking down at the floor. "I'm saying that we should cool it." He says, then looking me in the eyes. "We should take a break, maybe you'll find someone better." It's as if I don't recognize the pair of green blue eyes that appear to be more of a grey now. I can't stop the tears from falling, as what he just said sinks in. I have no words to say to him, and it seems that I'm frozen in place, as he nods his head; turning around, and opening the door. He stands there briefly, looking down at his feet, and that's when I say the only thing that comes to mind, hoping it'll get him to stay

"Jay please, I'm not trying to force you into anything you don't want. If this is really what you want, then I can't change your mind. But know that I don't want someone else, to me there's no one better. I want you, and I'll always be here for you, when you're ready." I say, before pausing briefly then continuing "I love you." And that's when he walks out of my room completely, closing the door behind him. I stay there on my bed, just staring at the door, before laying down, and crying into my pillow.

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 **A/N: I apologize for any mistakes, and I hope you won't** **be TOO mad at me for this ending. Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Please leave reviews, or reblog, thank you.**


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: Thank you to those of you have been leaving reviews, and to the guest who reviewed that the last chapter's ending was shit, and the one who said that they hate authors that do that, I appreciate that you let me know your exact thoughts. I'll try to make up for it, eventually, but if I can't turn it around, there are plenty of talented authors with amazing work that I can recommend for you to read. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please review.**

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Chapter 21

Erin's POV

I'm not sure how long I lay there bawling my eyes out into one of my six pillows. Before I get a text, then another, and I think about ignoring them, but I give in a few minutes later, and turn my phone on the table, so the screen is facing me. I press the home button, and see that there are two text notifications banners, one from my brother and the other from Kelly. I bring the phone closer to me, and unlock it, before going to my messages and replying to them, with tears still flowing freely down my face.

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Justin's POV

I get a reply from my sister, only minutes after texting

 _J-Hey sis is it safe to come home now?_

 _E-Yeah, why wouldn't it be?_

 _J-I don't know_

I lie, I was asking if it was ok to come home, because I could feel the tension between my sister and Jay when they got into the car, tension that hung heavy in the air for the whole car ride, and stuck with them into our house too. I don't know what happened in the time that they were talking to Kelly, because Kim and I made our way outside to wait for Mrs. Halstead there. So I thought I'd ask after a couple hours of being at Kim's, because whether they were fighting or doing _other_ things, I didn't want to walk in on anything, preferring to not be scarred for life if they weren't fighting. I thank Nicole for the ride home, before getting out of the car and walking up to the front door of our house, finding it unlocked. I walk up the stairs, and head to my room, but when walking past Erin's room, I can hear her crying through the door. I stand there for a minute longer, making sure I was hearing right. After a couple more sniffles, I knock lightly

"Erin can I come in." I ask cautiously

"Yeah." She answers quietly

I turn the nob, and open the door slowly. I see my sister lying on her bed her head laid on one of her half a dozen pillows, her eyes rimmed red, and tears trailing slowly from her eyes, over the bridge of her nose, onto her cheek, before disappearing into the fabric of her pillow. I go to stand in front of her.

"Hey sis, what happened?" I ask

"Nothing Justin." She says harshly, turning her head into her pillow, so I can no longer see her face, but I can see her shoulders shake as she sobs

"Erin come on, it's just me, you can tell me what happened." I say to her, and she says something into the pillow, but I can't make out what she said

"Erin I can't understand you." I say to her, sitting on the edge of her bed, and then she moves to sit up

"I said he wants to cool it." She says as more tears continue down her face "He broke up with me Justin."

"What? Why?"

"First he was pissed about Kelly, saying that he knows him, and how he's always looking to get with a new girl, and that I wasn't rejecting his advances, then I told him that we were just talking, and I told him he needs to let out his emotions instead of bottling them up, and he said he didn't want my help, and that he can get through whatever he's going through without me. I asked what he meant by that, and he said we should cool it, and take a break, and that maybe I'll find someone better.-" She rambles, before I cut her off, noticing that her breathing was accelerating and she was getting increasingly upset

"Woah Erin, first you need to calm down, you're making yourself even more upset." I say to her

"I told him, I loved him after that, and he still walked away, he didn't turn around, or say anything, he just left."

"Try to calm down, and I'll be right back." I say to her, before standing up

"Wait Justin, where are you going?" She asks

"I'm going to talk to Jay." I answer

"No Justin please don't, he needs his space, if he comes back, I want it to be because he wants to, not because someone forced him to." She says sadly, and I hear the door open, and then closing downstairs, and I know our dad is home from work. And then her phone rings, she picks it up, and we both down at the screen, and it's Kelly.

"Erin please don't get mad at me for asking this."

"What?"

"Is there something going on between you and Kelly?"

"How could you even ask me that? After I just told you about what happened between Jay and I, you really think I'd do that to him?" She asks angrily

"I'm sorry, it's just with him asking to talk to you at the stadium, and now he's texting and calling you. It kind of seems like something's going on. I didn't mean to upset you anymore." I explain to her, and she just nods her head, while looking down at the pillow that's sitting in her lap, and I can tell she's done talking to me, I'm surprised that she actually talked to me at all, and I decide to leave her alone

"I'm going to go talk to dad really quick, I'm sorry sis, if you need anything just let me know." I say to her, pulling her into a sort of side hug, before standing up, and walking to the door.

"I was planning a surprise birthday party for him." She says to me, causing me to turn around and face her, then she continues "Even his mom was helping plan it, and Kelly was just helping me get some last minute things together, since he always has the best parties." With that another tear slides down her face

"Oh now that makes sense, but why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to tell him, and ruin the surprise." She says, with a sad chuckle "I really wanted to give him a special day, and I still want to, I guess I just have to exclude myself now."

"Hey I promise to not say anything to him, but don't count yourself out yet, his birthday is still a few days away, so maybe things will work out."

"Yeah I won't hold my breath." She says bitterly

"Alright well I'm gonna go talk to pop."

"Ok."

"Talk to you later sis."

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Erin's POV

My brother leaves my room, I lay down, and turn over so I'm facing the wall. I think back to this past summer, when I glance at my small side window. I close my eyes in attempt to stop the tears from coming again, and at some point I fall asleep, dreaming of him.

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 **A/N: This chapter didn't turn out the way I hoped, but I hope it's good enough. I don't know when I'll be able to update again, I'm starting to really lack motivation to continue. I pray I get over this hump, and get back to updating like I was. I hope you have had a good week, and have a great weekend as well. Thanks**


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Erin's POV

It's Jay's birthday, and his mom text me that they just got back from his road test. So I go tell Justin to go over there, and ask for a ride somewhere so that we can get the house ready for the party that starts in just over two hours. Jay and I haven't talked at all since he said we should cool it, but I texted him this morning wishing him a Happy Birthday, and good luck on his driver's test, I just got a thanks in response. I blinked back the tears that threatened to fall at the vague message. I go down to the living room where Justin is sitting playing some video game

"Hey Justin can you go ask Jay for a ride somewhere so we can set up for the party please?" I ask, and he pauses his game

"He passed?" He asks in return

"I didn't ask but his mom didn't say he failed. So can you go ask him to go do something please? I want to get everything set up, so I can get home before you guys get back."

"Yeah I will, once I'm done with this game."

"Justin." I say sternly

"You know you sound just like mom when you say my name like that, I'll leave it on pause, but don't turn off the game counsel."

"I wouldn't dream of touching your precious game counsel."

"What am I supposed to ask him to do?"

"I don't know say you want to go to the driving range or something for his birthday."

"Ok." He says grabbing his phone off the coffee table, and walking towards the front door, and opening it; turning around just as he was about to walk out

"Hey Erin." He says

"Uh?"

"You shouldn't leave when you're done setting up, I'm sure he'll want you there."

"Yeah I'm not so sure about that, but thanks Justin."

"Just think about it, and I'll see you later."

"Ok." I say to him, and then he walks out of the door; closing it behind him. I go grab an apple from the kitchen to eat while I wait for them to leave. When grabbing one of the apples out of the bowl on the kitchen table, I notice a VHS tape with a note addressed to me on it. I was tempted to watch it right then, but I tell myself I could watch it after we finish setting up. I walk away before I give in to the temptation. It only takes about fifteen minutes before I see Justin and Jay hop into Mrs. Halstead's car and drive off. I wait another few minutes before I walk out of my house, and over to the Halstead's. I just walk right in, not even bothering to knock, and Mrs. Halstead is standing in the living room, just straightening up

"Hi sweetie." She says to me cheerfully

"Hi Mrs. Halstead."

"Kelly, his name is Kelly right?" she questions and I just nod, and she continues "Well Will helped Kelly bring in his chairs and tables and it's set in the basement, so we just have to set up the decorations which are in the garage." She says. We both walk out to the garage, and grab the balloons, streamers, and banners we bought. We start with decorating the dome that covers their pool in the winter, so they can use it year round, and the pool is heated too. The two of us then make our way to the basement with the remaining decorations

"Where have you been these last few days, I haven't seen you around at all?" She asks sweetly as she hands me some tape to hang up the banner, each of us grabbing an end, and hanging it on the wall

"Yeah I've just-" I pause contemplating whether or not to lie to her, I make my mind up rather quickly. "Umm Jay and I are, uh we're taking a break."

"Oh?" She says confused, and before I can convince myself not to, I just completely vent to her, much like I did with Justin

"I was talking to Kelly about the party after the baseball game the other day and Jay came out of the bathroom, and he was upset, and we got into a sort of fight, and he said we should cool it, and take a break, and I tried to get him to stay but he still walked out." I say with a sigh; wondering when I became so open about things, but I think then again she is my mother's best friend, and if anyone knew Jay it'd be his mom.

"And yet you're still here preparing a surprise party for him. You must love him as much as he does you."

"Yeah." I sigh again, but my head whips around to where she stands, "Wait what, I don't think-"

"Trust me, he may not be showing it in the best way right now, but I know my son, and he's definitely in love with you sweetheart." She says walking over to me, and placing her hands on my shoulders, before giving me a hug. "I think he just needs sometime to figure that out for himself."

We eventually finish decorating, and move on to setting the food out on the tables, we get done, just as some of the guys from Justin and Jay's teams, and some of their closest friends start showing up, I tell them the plan, and check with Mrs. Halstead

"Hi Mrs. Halstead." I say to her as I walk into the kitchen, where she's washing some dishes from when she was preparing the food

"Oh hi Erin." She says looking over her shoulder at me

"I was just checking to see if you needed me to do anything else?"

"No I think we got everything done, you just relax, and hang out with your friends." She says to me; drying off her hands

"I umm…I'm actually just going to head home, if don't need anything else."

"Why don't you just stay, he'll want you here."

"Thank you Mrs. Halstead, but I think I'll pass, I'll come back later to help you clean up though."

"Alright sweetie, well you are more than welcome to come back, and enjoy the party you planned, if you change your mind, and don't you worry about the clean up."

"Ok thanks."

"No thank you." She says to me, and I nod at her, not really knowing what to say, because I wasn't sure why she was thanking me, but I leave it at that, and head home. Not even five minutes later I see Jay and Justin return, and a few minutes after that I can actually hear the faint "surprise!" from the group of people in the Halstead's backyard.

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Jay's POV

Justin and I go to the driving range, and I had a feeling something was up. Justin has always had these tells, even when we were younger, he would mumble, develop a stutter, or wouldn't talk at all when he was trying to hide something. It was why he was terrible about keeping secrets because he'd eventually give in and tell people everything. While we're driving I try to get out of him what was going on

"So you just wanted to go with me to the driving range for birthday uh?" I ask as we stop at a red light, but he just nods his head

"There's not any other reason?" I pry

And I can see him shaking his head out of the corner of my eye, and I decide to just let it eat away at him for a little bit, then maybe he'll tell me. Except he doesn't even after an hour and a half at the driving range, and then the car ride home he won't let it spill.

"You wanna go for a..a.a swim when we get b-b-back?" He asks, and I just nod my head

"Sure." I answer, just as I turn onto our block, I park the car, and we get out, walking into the house. Then Justin turns

"I have to go grab my shorts from my house, I'll be right back." He mumbles and once again I just nod, he leaves, and then I notice that Leo didn't come running to me, when I got home, which he just started doing again in the last couple days. I go to look for him, first going to my room, and changing into my swim shorts while I'm there, before quickly going back down stairs in search of my dog. Then I decide to go the backyard, and that's when I realize what Justin was hiding as about 30 of my teammates, and friends yell "Surprise." At first I was a little taken back, but then I say

"Thanks." Loudly before walking over to some of the guys, and start talking, it seems like a few hours before I talk to Justin again

"I knew something was up man, but this didn't actually cross my mind." I say looking around at everyone, as some goof off, while others just talk amongst themselves. "Thanks. I'm not usually one for surprises, but this is cool." I say to him, and he shakes his head at me, and laughs. I look at him confused

"Why are you shaking your head?" I ask

"You actually think I did this? I was just supposed to get you out of the house, otherwise I had nothing to do this." Justin says as he walks off to go talk to one of the groups of our friends standing in a huddle to the side of the pool.

"So you did all of this?" I ask my mom, as I walk back into the house, and into the kitchen. I sit at one of the chairs at the breakfast bar, and I go to stick my finger into the side of the white and blue cake sitting in front me, but I stop when my mom yells not even turning around to face me

"Jay Thomas Halstead, I know you're not about to put your finger in that cake."

"How do you do that?" I ask her as she turns her attention to me

"I'm a mother, your mother and I know you, and you've been doing that to your birthday cakes since you were two." We both chuckle at that "now why are you in here instead of hanging out with your friends?"

"I can't come to thank my mom for the car she gave me, and the surprise party she threw me?"

"Well of course, and your welcome for the car, but I can't take credit for the party, I just prepared the food, and helped put up the decorations." She answers, we both just sit there quietly for a few moments

"Erin?" I ask and she just nods

"She went home, after we got done decorating."

"I screwed up, didn't I mom?"

"Yeah sweetie, I'd say so, but I believe that this." She says gesturing outside, and we both look out at the party, "just proves that you didn't screw up as bad as you'd think, it proves that you can still fix things with her." She finishes, and I nod, just as Justin is coming into the kitchen.

"Hey man, are you coming back out to join your party or what?" He asks

"Yeah umm I'll be back out in a little bit." I answer

"Alright." He says turning to leave

"Hey Justin?"

"Yeah." He answers turning back around

"Is your house unlocked?"

"Yeah, atleast it was when I went to get my swim shorts. But if it's not, the spare key is attached to a magnet on the underside of the railing to your right."

"Thanks."

"No problem man, and good luck." He says leaving the room, and I walk to, and out our front door, making my way to the Voight's house.

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Erin's POV

At some point after I hear the party started, I remember the tape sitting on the kitchen table. I go to grab it, and take it to my room with me; putting it in to the vcr. It takes a few seconds for the black to disappear before my mom's face is shown on my screen. I immediately tear up. Then she starts to speak, _"Hi my beautiful, sweet girl, if you're watching this then, I guess your father has realized that our baby girl has fallen in love. I thought I was ready to make all of these videos for you and your brother, for the big things in your life, a few pieces of motherly advice, if you will, some words of wisdom to carry with you. I thought I was prepared but love is probably the hardest thing to give advice on, because everyone's adventure is different. Everyone's story is unique. There'll be moments of pure bliss, moments where you almost feel the need to pinch yourself to know if it's real, and it will be. And you can strive for the perfect kind of love that you see on TV. But truth is there is no such thing as a perfect human being, so how would there be a perfect love? There's going to be mistakes, mistakes made by both of you. Don't let those mistakes push you apart, please don't let them break you. Turn those mistakes into lessons, stepping stones to the next chapter in your story. Don't try to recreate anyone else's fairytale, but always try to make your life, a story worth re-reading"_ She says with a sigh. _"I don't want to bore you so I'll stop there, I hope this helps you and tell Jay I said hi. It is Jay right?"_ She giggles at that, and it makes me giggle too, both at her little laugh and the fact that she knew it'd be Jay " _Anyways take care sweetheart, keep the boys in check, I love you."_ And with that the screen goes black. Tears are trailing down my cheeks as my mother's voice echoes in my head. I turn the TV off; making my way to take a shower. I start the water before stripping myself of my clothing and hopping in; letting the hot water wash over my body, my tears blending in with it. I stand there, thinking of what my mom said on the tape, until the water goes cold, and then I get out; wrapping a towel around my body. I make my way out of the bathroom and into my room, but I freeze in the doorway, my feet seemingly cemented to the floor, as my eyes lock with Jay's.

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A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! THANKS


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 _Tears are trailing down my cheeks as my mother's voice echoes in my head. I turn the TV off; making my way to take a shower. I start the water before stripping myself of my clothing and hopping in; letting the hot water wash over my body, my tears blending in with it. I stand there, thinking of what my mom said on the tape, until the water goes cold, and then I get out; wrapping a towel around my body. I make my way out of the bathroom and into my room, but I freeze in the doorway, my feet seemingly cemented to the floor, as my eyes lock with Jay's._

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Jay's POV

I just let myself into the Voight household, and look for Erin on the first floor, before I make my way up to her room, and that's when I hear the shower running. I contemplate going in like she did with me last week, but I decide against it; sitting on her desk chair waiting for her to come out. I'm only waiting for about ten minutes before I hear the water turn off, and seconds later she comes out only wrapped in a towel, and I feel my shorts tighten. She stops dead in her tracks at the doorway of her bathroom. Her soaking wet hair, sending little droplets in all different directions, at her body's abrupt stop. She crosses her arms over her chest almost in attempt to cover herself a little more. I stare at her chest briefly before taking in the rest of her wet smooth skin that isn't being hidden by the towel. My eyes trail up and down her body a few times, and I find myself wondering why I didn't appreciate that shower more last week. I make my way up her body one last time; looking at her chest, then moving up to her mouth; seeing her teeth sinking into her bottom lip, and it takes all of me to hold back the moan that threatened to come. Finally my eyes lock with hers, and that's when I realize she's been crying. Her eyes puffy, bloodshot, and rimmed red. My body moves at its own accord, not bothering to talk or ask what's wrong I just feel the need to hold her in my arms, and apologize to her for being such an idiot. But once I'm close enough to her, she puts one of her hands on my chest to stop me, her thumb immediately rubbing up and down my bare peck.

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Erin's POV

It's only a few seconds but both of us admire the other's appearance. He's wearing just a pair of light blue trunks, giving me a view I haven't been able enjoy in a few weeks, even with the shower last week, I wasn't able to truly appreciate it. His sculpted chest is rising and falling quickly, his muscular arms flexing as he fidgets in the chair by my desk, I can see the growing bulge in his shorts, and I know my lack of clothing has got him feeling the same way I am about him, as I try to stop my skin from becoming flushed. I bite my lip as I make my way back up his body to his face, and that's when our eyes lock. I break eye contact to watch his muscles flex again, as he moves to get up. Once he's close enough to me, I put my hand up to stop him, but I rub my thumb up and down, my silent way to tell him I'm not mad.

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Jay's POV

"Er, I…I'm-" I was about to apologize, but she cuts me off

"There's no need to apologize Jay." She whispers

"Yes there is." I say; pausing before resuming "I hurt you, something I promised I wouldn't do, and even though it was just days ago, I know it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life so far, and even more when I found out you were planning a party for me, and I over reacted about Kelly."

She shakes her head

"What are you shaking your head about? It's the truth."

"I just watched a video my mom made for me when she was sick. It was a short little clip, but her words just keep repeating in my head." Her eyes leave mine, and she sniffles, then I see tears trailing down her face. I reach out to lift her head back up, and use the pads of my thumbs to wipe her tears away.

"Can I ask what the video was about?"

"It was about love, and how there's going to be moments of pure bliss, and happiness, and moments where we make mistakes, both of us. She basically told me that we shouldn't let those mistakes break us or push us away from each other. We're going to make mistakes Jay, and as much as that hurt for you to say you didn't need me or to see you walk away after what I said to you. I can't imagine how you're feeling, I'm sure you're hurting, and if space is what you want or need then I'm not going to disregard your wishes, all I could hope was that you'd come back, and let me in." She says

"I want to let you in, I just don't know how, I'm the guy you know, I'm supposed to be the one who's strong for you, not the other way around. I know I'm not good enough, I don't feel I deserve you, or your love."

"That's your dad talking Jay, push him out of your head, all the lies, and bullshit like that, whatever he said to you over the span of your life, let it go. Men are allowed to show their emotions, and cry, and they're allowed to let others fight alongside them, let others help them carry their load. That doesn't make them weak, or not good enough. You are one of strongest and most amazing people I've had the pleasure to have in my life, and honestly I don't know what I'd do without you. Don't worry about being his definition of enough, babe, you already are, and there's a whole group of people over at your house and in your life that would back me up on that." She says to me, and I push her hand down, and off my chest gently; taking it into mine, before leaning in; giving her a small smile, which she returns to me, before I lean in the rest of the way and kiss her for a moment, then I pull my lips from hers

"I love you." I say to her before kissing her again.

"I love you too Jay." She says in between kisses, and once we break apart to catch our breath, she lets out a little chuckle

"What are you laughing about?" I ask her

"I guess we're pretty predicable."

"What do you mean?" I ask her confused

"My mom knew it'd be you that I'd fall for."

"She say that in the video?"

"Yeah, she told me to tell you she said hi." She says. I smile at her again, my hand never leaving her cheek, as I give her a few more small pecks. Then I back away.

"You should get back to your party though." She says to me as she walks over to one of her dressers.

"Only if you come back with me." I say to her

"Jay, you should hang out with your friends."

"Please Er? Even though it's only been a few days, it was too much time apart."

"Fine, I'll meet you over there." She says as she disappears into her closet

"Umm I'd rather walk back over with you." I say, causing her to poke her head out of the closet.

"You just want to wait for me so you can see me get dressed." She says as she walks out in her bra and underwear, this time I can't stop the moan, or more like the whimper that comes out, but the light purple undergarments are doing things to me, but they are soon covered by a pair of skin tight capris, and a blue long sleeve shirt that matches my swim shorts, and I find myself wondering if she picked it for that reason. I break from my thoughts as she walks over to me, and gives me a quick kiss before grabbing my hand, we leave her room, walk down the stairs, out of her house, and over to the party, most of my friends completely unaware of my brief disappearance. We enjoy the rest of the party, her hand never leaving mine, and I think about how much I missed her during our days apart, and I remind myself to try to not repeat that mistake again.

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 **A/N: Another one where I don't know whether I like it or not, but I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, also I used one of Sophia's quotes in this chapter. Leave me your thoughts and please review. Thanks, and to anyone who celebrates Thanksgiving I hope you have a great day. Much Love.**


	25. Chapter 24

**A/N: Warning this does include some smut, and has an M rating. So if that's not your thing you might want to just skip this chapter, and I'll be sure to give you a previously on in the beginning of the next update for the other content in this chapter, other than scrabble. For those of you that have been asking I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also sorry in advance for all the mistakes, I just got off a 15 hour shift, I cant sleep, and its 4 in the morning here, so I hope I didn't do too bad. Please review.**

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Chapter 24

Jay's POV

It's the Friday after my birthday, school started again on Monday, and Erin and I are driving home from school.

"So my mom is working a double shift, and my brother is hanging out with his friends, so it'll be just us at the house again tonight."

"Ok." She says so quietly I almost miss it

"So I was thinking maybe we could um…" I say, before pausing to think about why I'm so nervous right now, I snap myself out of my thoughts to finish what I was going to say "Umm I was thinking maybe we could watch some movies, and order a pizza or something? Uh if you wanted to." I say quietly, I see her shrug out of the corner of my eye, as I continue on our route home

"Sure." Is all she says

"Is something wrong Er?" I ask her cautiously, as I reach my hand over the center console, to hold her hand in mine; I feel a little better when she intertwines our fingers

"No I'm fine."

"It's just you've been quiet all day, every period I had with you, even in passing in between classes and you just said you're fine, which I feel you only say when something is bothering you."

"Jay I…" She pauses, and I can tell without even having to look at her that she's thinking of what to say "everything's good." She finishes

"Erin." I say to sternly, as I park the car in the driveway. She seems to jump out almost as soon as the car stops. I turn off the car, before getting out; following her.

"I am fine Jay, I've just been thinking about some thing's people were saying around school today is all" She says, and I gently grab her upper arm, and turn her so she's facing me, instead of the front door of my house.

"What things?" I ask

"Nothing, it's fine Jay, and I really don't feel like talking about it, not yet at least." She says harshly

"Ok I know you'll tell me when you're ready."

"Yeah." She says to me as I unlock and open the door; Leo comes running and almost knocks her over

"Leo no." I say to him

"It's ok Jay, it's not like it's the first time he's excited to see us." She says sweetly looking at me

"He's not excited to see us." I gesture between us "he's excited to see you."

"Oh don't to be jealous Jay, I mean can you really blame him for being more excited to see me?" She asks, with a small smirk, and giggle

"No." I reply without hesitation, and it causes her eyes to lift up from the big puppy playfully bouncing around between us, to look at me and I take her in, for what had to be the hundredth time today. I look over her skin tight jeans, and green long sleeve shirt that hugs her upper body in just the right way. I lick my lips and bite back a moan as I walk a little closer to her, and she stands up straight. Lately I've had this intense urge; my body reacting to hers in way like never before, but I don't want to push her into something she doesn't want.

"Jay." She whispers against my lips, my face only centimeters away from hers

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Erin's POV

My eyes dart up when he says no, in a voice I've never heard from him before. I can see him taking me in, and then he licks his lips; my tongue follows a similar path on my own lips as he walks closer to me. His eyes are dark; his pupils taking over the usual green blue color, I can see his body reacting to me, the bulge in his pants growing more it seems with each step, and that's when I know we won't just be watching movies and getting take out tonight.

"Jay." I whisper against his lips, as he stands in front of me, and leans in before kissing me hard. This kiss is unlike anything we've ever shared, and nothing like I ever had before. He swallows my moan, as his hands move down my body, first brushing against the side of my breasts, before moving south, and gripping my hips, he pushes me back into the wall, and I moan again. His lips leave mine to trail down my neck, I feel his nose nudge my shirt to continue down to the tops of my breasts. I close my eyes briefly before I bring my hands up to cup his face, and bring his head up; crashing my lips against his once more, breaking the kiss only seconds later. My hands don't leave his face, trying to keep his attention.

"Jay, I..I don't want you to feel pressured or rushed." I ask him, and he just nods

"Use your words Jay, if you don't want-"

"I do, want this, I want you, I wouldn't just initiated this if I didn't." He says cutting me off, and grinding his hips into mine to emphasize his point, causing me to moan once again. I smirk at him, giving him a few quick pecks

"I want you too babe." I say to him and he continues to kiss me

"Jay, Jay, do you...do you." I stutter at him, embarrassed to say what I'm thinking, my pause causes him to stop kissing my neck

"Spit it out Er." He says kind of harshly

"Its just...do you really want your first time to be up against the wall?"

He just shakes his head at me.

"I didn't think so, so do you think we can move this up to your room?" I ask and he just nods, a smirk of his own appearing on his face. We stand their against the wall of the entryway for a few seconds longer, before stumbling up the stairs, our lips and hands never leaving each other. We walk into his room; he kicks the door closed with his foot, and then he picks me up, my legs wrapping around his waist, and my arms around his neck. Then he throws me on the bed, and I bounce a few times, before I scoot back until my head meets the pillows. He takes off his shirt, and I lick my lips again, as I stare at him. He then crawls over me, grinning as his face hovers over mine. My shirt has ridden up during the journey here. His hand goes to caress the skin revealed, as he kisses me. Then his legs go to straddle mine, before sitting up and pulling me with him. His hands go to the hem of my shirt, grabbing the camisole underneath too, and bringing both things over my head, before I lay back. He leans over me again, and his lips pepper kisses from my jawline, to my navel, and back up, then bringing his lips to mine. My hands go for the button of his jeans; one of his hands doing the same to mine. I stop, once I get the zipper of his jeans down; I'm so tempted to cup him through his boxers, but tell myself _'soon enough',_ before halting his hands.

"Jay wait." I say in his ear, and he backs up a little

"If you changed your mind, that's ok Er, I know this was really spur of the moment, and I can wait as long as you want." He says, and I can't help but giggle, at how sad he looks saying those words, and then I smile at how I got so lucky to be with him, someone who would put their desires aside for me. I feel him back away even more, and I break from my thoughts, and focus back on the task at hand. I wrapped my arms around his neck again, so he can't back away anymore.

"No that's not what I meant by wait, I didn't change my mind. I was just wondering if you had a condom?" I ask him, and he smiles at that

"Yeah, I'll uh…yeah." He says to me, giving me a quick peck before he gets off the bed, and walks over to his dresser, that sits against the wall next to his door. I admire his back muscles, watching them flex as he searches through the top drawer; seeing his loosened jeans drop lower and lower, exposing more and more of the distinguished v of his lower abdomen, as his walks back over to the bed, he lets his jeans drop to the floor. He places the condoms on the nightstand next to his bed. Then he grabs my ankles, and pulls, so my body is laid sideways on the bed, and my legs are hanging off the side. He pulls my jeans off, and they join the growing pile of our clothing somewhere on the floor.

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Jay's POV

Once her jeans are off, I just take a moment to admire her beauty, before dropping to my knees. I trail kisses up her right leg, and place one lingering kiss over her pantie covered center, her scent wafting my nose, causing me to become uncomfortable in the usually very comfortable boxers, then I make my way down her left leg, and repeating the action. I stand up; crawl over her again, moving one of my hands under her back; unclipping the clasps of her bra. She pulls it the rest of the way off, and I find myself staring at her again, before moving my lips to light brown peaks of her chest. I then loop my fingers into the side of her light grey panties, and pull them down her legs; I kneel between her legs again, leaning in to kiss her bare center. I stiffening my tongue, and slowly drag it between her wet folds. I only get to do this a few times before she sits up, and her hands are pulling my hair, and then they move to cup my face, bringing her lips to mine, and I swallow her moan, as she tastes herself on my lips. She grabs my shoulders and guides me to sit down with my back against the headboard of my bed. She continues to kiss me for a few more moments, before I feel her hands grip the waistband of my boxers, and then she's slowly pulling them down, my erect member; free of all confinement and bobs between us. She looks down at me, as she throws my boxers on the floor, I watch her as she leans her head down, and I see her give me a wicked grin, before she wraps her lips around me, and I slam my head back against the headboard, my eyes rolling back. _'Holy shit'_ is all that comes to mind as she twirls her tongue around my head, before probing my opening with the tip of her tongue. She continues for just a little bit longer before I do the same as she did to me, and bring her head up, she lets me go with an audible pop, and gives me a confused and concerned look

"I didn't hurt you did I?" She asks looking down

"No babe, not at all, that was…" I pause not knowing what to say "Well I don't really know how describe that, but it was amazing, it's just that." I say looking away, but one of her hands quickly comes up to get me to look at her

"Hey you don't have to be nervous, just tell me."

"I uh…I want to be inside of you, when I…." I say to her. She just nods, and gives me a soft smile. My eyes don't leave hers, as I reach for the nightstand, blindly searching for one of the condoms I just placed there. When I grab one, she instantly snatches it from my hand, bringing it to her mouth to tear open the foil packaging with her teeth. Once it's open she disposes of the foil, and then looks back at me, as if to make sure, and I just nod. She rolls the condom down on me, and then she's moving to straddle my legs. She rubs her core on me a few times, before she grabs my member, and guides me into her center. My head slams back, and my eyes roll again. My hands go to grip her hips, trying to keep her still, as I try to keep this from being over too soon. After a few moments she starts to slowly rock her hips against me. She quickly finds a rhythm that suits us both. My eyes are still tightly closed shut. The room is filled with the sounds of the headboard slamming against the wall, the clap of bodies moving against each other's; the moans, and whimpers that are coming from both of us. My mind soon becoming clouded as I feel her center tighten around me, and I feel myself reacting, my balls tightening a little more with every coil.

"Jay open your eyes." I slowly do as she says. My eyes look into hers, as her hands move from their place on my shoulder, and chest, so she can weave her fingers through her hair. Then my eyes trail down, and I watch her breasts bounce with her, and I let out a moan, before continuing down, and watching where our bodies are joined, which causes me close my eyes again, the sight proving to be too much, as my release wash over my body. Erin continues riding me for a few more seconds before she too gets pushed over the edge, and her body, sweaty, and spent clasps against mine, and I move to seal kisses up and down the side of her head, down to her neck, and chest. We stay in the same position for a couple minutes, as we try to calm our breathing, and I soften inside of her, before she rolls off of me. I dispose of the condom, before moving to bring her close to me, pulling the covers over are bodies. She curls her body into the side of mine, and her hand goes to traces patterns on my chest; one of mine going to wrap around her, and trail up and down her bare back.

"They were saying I'm not good enough for you. Not pretty, or sexy or smart enough for you. That's what I was thinking about all day." She whispers into my chest, and I kiss her forehead

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Erin's POV

He kisses my forehead after I say what I thinking about all day, but then he doesn't do or say anything after that for a few minutes, but then he tilts my head up to give me a kiss on the lips.

"Hey babe, what did you just say to me last week? Don't worry about being his definition of enough, you already are. Don't worry about what they're saying about you, cause it's not true. You are the most beautiful" He says kissing my forehead again "and the sexiest" he says kissing my eyelids "and the smartest girl" He says then kissing the tip of my nose "I've ever met babe, and you are enough, don't let anyone ever tell you differently." He says before giving another kiss on the lips

"I don't deserve you." I say to him in between kisses

"We deserve each other babe, and I love you." He replies

"I love you too." I lean up kissing him on the lips again before moving to get up

"Where are you going?" He asks

"I have to pee."

"Oh ok."

"Then I'm going to take a shower. Can I borrow a pair of your sweatpants?" I say and ask

"I don't know. Am I going to get these sweatpants back?"

"Maybe." I say innocently, with a giggle

"Alright well go pee, and I'll bring your stuff." He says to me with a chuckle

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Jay's POV

I watch her walk out of my room in my shirt, and then I go to put on a pair of boxers and basketball shorts, before picking up my jeans and boxers I wore earlier today, and throwing them in the hamper in the corner of my room. I then grab a pair of my sweatpants, along with her shirt, bra and underwear. I'm about to leave the room, when I turn back to grab a condom, before making my way into the bathroom, and into the shower with her. We play a quick round of scrabble in the shower. We we're done, we dry off; get dressed, and then we make our way downstairs to order food, and find a movie to watch. After the food arrives, we eat and watch the movie. About an hour later, I'm laid out on the couch, with Erin asleep on top of me. I turn my attention from the TV to the gorgeous girl sleeping in my arms, and wonder how anyone could hurt her, and I think about how I wish I could protect her from everything, and everyone that wishes to break her.

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 **A/N: I hope I wrote this ok, not feeling it though. Please review, let me know what you thought. I'll try to update again soon. Thanks**


	26. Chapter 25

**A/N: Ok so there's a little more smut in this chapter, so I'm also rating this one M. And to answer the question some of you asked in your reviews, yes Jay was a virgin, and I know I didn't do a very good at writing him losing his virginity, but in all fairness, that was my first time writing smut. So I hope it wasn't too bad, and I'll try to better this time. Thanks**

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Chapter 25

Erin's POV

It's Sunday, and I'm just lying on my bed doing my homework, when I hear a crash, and then my dad is yelling. I get up to close my door, before returning back to my bed, to finish my assignments. I'm only able to work for another 10 minutes before I'm interrupted by my brother barging into my room, and slamming the door behind him.

"Justin what the hell?" I yell

"I just needed to get away from him." He says out of breath

"Ok and what's wrong with your room?"

"My door doesn't lock, and you're not in there to talk to."

"He has the key Justin."

"Yeah, but he didn't follow me, and I'm hoping he'll lay off for a bit."

"Whatever." I say shaking my head "Well since you want to talk, want to start with why dad's so pissed at you?"

"He's pissed cause I told him, I uh…" he says before clearing his throat "I told him I'm gay sis." He says looking down at his feet

"Justin you know I love you right? And even though you irritate the shit out of me most of the time, I only want what's best for you, and only you know what or who is best for you, so as long as you're being treated right, and your happy, it doesn't matter to me who brings you that happiness." I say to my brother getting off the bed to give him a hug

"He'll come around Justin, he has to. I can't say I'm not a little shocked, and I do have some questions, like what about Kim, but I'll be here for you, no matter what Justin." I say still hugging him, and I feel him nod into my shoulder, and I hear him sniffle, we just stand there for a little while, before he pulls away,

"Thanks sis, I love you too." He says sitting in my desk chair "Did I ever tell you're my favorite sister?" He says with a small smile

I laugh at that "I'm you're only sister Justin."

"Fine then you're my favorite family member, second only to mom." He says sadly

"I miss her, especially right now." He continues

"Yeah me too." I say as I look down at my hands in my lap, and we sit in silence for few moments

"So you have some questions?" He asks

"Yeah." I say enthusiastically, causing him to laugh

"Ok shoot."

"Ok first what about Kim?"

"What about her?"

"Well you've been dating her for a couple years Justin." I say using air quotes with the word dating

"Oh, she was uh, she was actually the first person I told, and she was really cool about it, said something similar to what you said. She's my best friend and she's helped me through a lot, she even helped me work up the courage to tell dad, but to tell you the truth it was harder telling you." He says to me

"Why do you feel it was harder to tell me?"

"I guess I knew how dad would react, but with you I wasn't sure, I didn't know if you were going to agree with it, or push me away, and I was afraid to lose you, you're one of my best friends too."

"Justin I would never push you away for being who you are. And to tell YOU the truth I'm so proud to call you my brother, because it must take incredible strength to stay true to you. It's your life, and I have no right to disagree with, or stand in the way of who you love or makes you happy." I say to him and he just nods, and I see some tears trail down his face. I look down at my hands again

"Can I tell you something?" He asks suddenly

"Of course." I answer

"Ok so don't freak out, but I've been talking to this guy, and he seems really cool, we have a couple classes together, and I really like him."

"Ooooh what's his name?" I ask intrigued

"His name is Oliver Bailey."

"Oh my god, you like Ollie."

"You know him?" He asks confused

"Justin we've gone to the same school as him since third grade, of course I know him, and he's super sweet, and cute. You guys would be good together."

"Thanks-" He says before there's a knock on the door, and both look towards it, before hearing our dad's gruff voice just say "Justin." Sternly, before hearing the sound of his retreating footsteps

"Well I guess, I've avoided him for long enough."

"Yeah I guess so." I answer going to give him a quick hug "You ever need to talk, I'm here for you." I say

"Thank You Erin." He says and this time I nod, we back away and he leaves my room. I finish my homework about an hour later, before passing out on my bed. It's not until the next morning that I realize that my brother isn't home, and my dad had already left for work. I eat breakfast by myself before walking over to the Halstead's to drive with Jay to school. As I reach the top stair of their front porch, the door swings open, and Jay steps out

"Hey babe." He says walking the few feet to me, giving me a kiss

"Hey, have you heard from, or seen my brother?" I ask him

"Yeah he uh, he spent the night here."

"He what?" I ask as Justin walks out

"Justin what's going on? Why did you spend the night here?"

"He uh, he kicked me out, and I didn't know where to go, luckily Jay's mom was getting home from work, and asked what I was doing outside, so I told her, and she came and gave me hug and told me to stay with them, so here we are."

"He's unbelievable." I say as we all get into the car, not wanting to be late for first period

"Yeah well that's our dad for you, and once he's set his mind to something, there's almost no way to change it."

"You don't deserve to be treated that way Justin." I say turning around to look at him

"It is what it is sis."

"Well I'm going to talk to him."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, you're both too stubborn, and it always gets ugly between you two when you stand up to him."

"He's right Er, I don't think it's such a good idea to go against-" Jay starts to say, as he parks the car, and looks at me, and I give him a look, telling him to shut up, and Justin laughs, as we all open our doors

"Dude you guys sleep together one time, and she already has you whipped." I hear Justin tease as I walk in front of them, and I giggle a little to myself

"Dude, you know I can kick your ass right?"

"Yeah, but you won't." Justin replies, and I turn around as we get to my locker, and I wrap my arms around Jay's neck, giving him a kiss, and I laugh into the kiss when I hear my brother say

"Gross."

We ignore him, and share a few more quick pecks before pulling apart.

"I'll see you in third period." I say to Jay, he nods as I lean in, giving him another peck, before he walks to his locker.

"Thank goodness, I was about to puke into my locker, if you guys continued any longer."

"Shut up Justin." I say with a chuckle, punching him on the arm lightly

"I'll see you later sis." He says before walking off to his first period, and I close my locker, heading to my class too. The day goes by quickly, and before I know it Jay and I are driving home. We pull into his driveway, and I notice how my dad's truck is in the driveway at our house. I take a deep breath, turning my head towards Jay, and leaning over the center console to give him a kiss.

"I'll talk to you later babe." I say to him, and he just nods as we both get out of the car, each walking towards our own houses. I take few more deep breaths before turning the door knob; opening the door and walking into the house. Walking through the living room, and down the hallway into the kitchen, and that's when I see him. He's sitting at the table reading over another case file.

"Hey dad can we talk?" I ask him, and he puts his file down, closing it and pushing it to the side a little.

"Sure kid what do you want to talk about?" He asks in return

"Justin."

"He's made his choice, and he knows where I stand. If he decides to change his ways he knows where to find me."

"What the hell does that mean dad?"

"Watch it Erin?"

"No dad I want to know what that means." I yell at him

"I'm not having this conversation with you, this is between your brother, and I."

I shake my head "I remember you and mom teaching us that love comes in all different forms, but I guess I'm remembering wrong, I guess it was just mom who taught us that we can't control who you love. She always used to say love is love, but I guess not to you. She'd be so ashamed of you." I say before storming out the back door ignoring him, as he yells for me to come back.

I run over to the Halstead's; letting myself in, and walking straight to Jay's room, where I find him at his desk, reading a book.

"Hey." I say to him, and he looks up at me

"Hey how'd it go?" He asks

"How do you think it went?" I answer, and ask "Do you think we can take a ride?"

"Sure." He says flipping his book over, so its lying face down, but still opened to the page he left off on. We walk out of the house and to the car. He pulls the car out of the driveway before asking

"Where to babe?"

"I don't care, I just wanted to be alone with you."

"Ok." he says before driving, we're probably about ten minutes away from our neighborhood, and we take a turn, and then another one, before going straight down this street I've never been on before, coming to stop in the middle of an abandoned lot.

"Jay what are we doing here?" I ask confused.

"I don't know. I figured if you wanted to talk, or if you wanted to just sit here, we can." He says grabbing my hand, and bringing it to his lips. His kiss lingers on the top of my hand, even minutes after, our joined hands fall into his lap, I move hand slightly, accidently brushing up against him, which elicits a moan from him. Then he's gently thrusting his hips upwards into my hand, and I bite my lip, before removing my hand, and climbing into the back seat. I pull off my jeans, and underwear, and watch as his eyes grow dark, he reaches over to the glove compartment, bringing the familiar square foil package to his mouth, before climbing with a little difficulty to the back seat. I find myself thinking that for a guy who just lost his virginity a few days ago, he has condoms everywhere. When he finally gets in the back, we waste no time removing his jeans and boxers, and I take the small square from its place in between his lips, bringing it to my mouth and tearing it open. I pull out the condom, and roll it down on his hard member. I'm about to straddle him, but he gently lays me back, and hovers over me. I hold head up slightly as I watch him join our bodies, but I quickly slam my head back against the seat, and arch my back, at the new but already so familiar connection. His moves are quick, his hips slamming against mine hard, his hands are sure to leave bruises as they tightly grip my hips as he drives in to me over and over again, his hot and heavy breaths tickling where his head sits just above the crook of my neck, his mouth just outside my ear, and I can hear his animalistic moans and whimpers, as he brings us closer and closer to the edge. He quickens the pace even more, and then my vision is blurred, and the once clear noises coming from him, are muffled, but I can still feel him continue for a few seconds longer before thrusting hard one final time, and then clasping on top of me. We stay in this position for a little bit, before he pulls out of me, sitting up and throwing the condom in a plastic bag he has sitting on the floor. I give him a quick kiss, before pulling my underwear, and jeans back on, and he does the same. We climb back to the front of the car, before driving to get ice cream, and then going home. We give each other a goodnight kiss, before I head home, and go straight to my room. I don't even change out of my clothes, before I clasp on my bed, and take a little nap. I wake up for a few hours to eat, and do my homework. When I finish the last of my assignments, I do my nightly routine, before climbing back into bed, and going to sleep.

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 **A/N: Leave me your thoughts, please and thank you**.


	27. Chapter 26

**A/N: To the one who said you're not sure where this fic is going, if I'm being honest I'm not completely sure either, lol, especially with these next few chapters, after that I have a pretty good idea as to where I'm going with it. If any of you have any requests as to where you'd like me to take these next couple chapters feel free to DM me. I had a couple followers ask if Jay was a virgin, and if I could dive a little more about that experience for him, so I'm going to try to explore that a little more in the beginning here, before moving on. Sorry for all the mistakes, I haven't really been sleeping much again.**

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Chapter 26

Jay's POV

Erin and I are lying in my bed, her naked form pressed firmly against mine. My head is propped up on my hand, my elbow bent just behind her head; her hair fanning out in all different directions. My other arm is wrapped around her waist; my hand tracing random patterns on her bare stomach, as she sleeps. I laugh to myself as I think _'we were supposed to be doing our homework'_ but we got a little distracted. When we first played scrabble, I was so nervous. So scared to hurt her, and nervous that she had something to compare me to. But now that we've gone through this experience, we can't seem to stop. I know that I'm not hurting her, or being compared from her expressions, and noises, noises that are now my new favorite. For most guys this, sex is all it's about, most of them look for the no strings attached kind of thing, they don't want the relationship aspect but not for me. As mind blowing as this has been, I would have been fine waiting even longer. I don't regret it though, as cheesy as it may sound I'm glad that she was my first, and I hope that this makes our relationship even stronger _._

She starts to stir, and I smile as I lean down, peppering kisses along her neck, and up to her jaw. Then she turns over so breasts are pressed against my chest. I keep my arm draped around her waist, and she brings hers to wrap around my neck. She brings her face up to mine, and leans in connecting our lips. We kiss for a few moments, before she pulls away

"Hi." I say to her

"Hey." She says sleepily

"We should probably get dressed, and start doing our homework, cause my mom should be home soon." I say to her

"You don't think she'll be cool with this." She says with a giggle

"My mom may be cool about most things, but this." I say gesturing between us "This I don't think she'll be cool with." And with that she gives me a smile, before she starts to get up, but I pull her back down

"Jay what are doing, you just said we have to." She says but I cut her off with a quick peck to her lips "get dressed" she finishes in between

"I know I just wanted to kiss you." I reply to her, giving her one more actual kiss, then letting her get up and get dressed, before doing the same myself. We put our clothes back on in silence, once we're done, I go to open my door, and grab my books off the floor, and we go downstairs to the living room. My mom gets home about ten minutes later, and walks in from the kitchen

"Hey Jay." She says as she rounds the corner, "I brought, oh Erin, hi sweetie." She says with a smile on her face

"Hi Mrs. Halstead." Erin replies sweetly

"Hi mom."

"I bought pizza for dinner, so come get some while its hot." She says walking back into the kitchen. We go get some pizza and eat as we do our homework. We finish our assignments within a couple hours. When we're done we pack up our stuff. Once all our books are in our backpacks, she goes to stand behind the couch, and I'm still sitting on it. She leans over the back of the couch, and gives me a kiss,

"I'll see you in the morning babe." She says, then giving me a quick peck

"See you." I say stealing one more kiss, and then she goes home. I grab my backpack, and head back up to my room, stripping to my boxers, and t shirt, before laying down on my bed. I reach for my TV remote, and turn it on wanting to watch the rest of the game. I fall asleep sometime during the sixth inning. Waking up when my alarm blares at six thirty, and I get up, and get ready for the day.

The day is just a usual Monday. We drive to school together, and I give Erin a kiss, before we head off to our first period of the day. We eat lunch together, and then we go to our fifth period. At the end of the day I meet Erin at her locker, and grab her backpack, and giving her a kiss, before we each go to our practices. I go to my car to put our school stuff there, and then head to the locker room. When I get there I see a bunch of the guys huddled near the showers, and I walk closer to see what's going on. Some of the guys scatter when they see me, and that's when I see Justin. His eyes are red, full of fear. I push my way through to get to him, and stand in front of him.

"What the hell is going on?" I yell

"He's gay." A couple of the guys say

"And?" I say

"We've been on the same team as him for years, we've taken showers, and changed in front of him."

"And yet, you're just now finding out. Have you thought about why that is Blake? What about you Carson? Kyle? Any of you? Maybe it's because Justin hasn't tried to force anything on any of you, he's never made any of you feel uncomfortable. He's been hiding who he truly is from all of us, even me, his best friend, for reasons that most, if not all of us will never know, but maybe it's because of situations like this, and ignorant assholes such as yourselves. How is another person's, how is his love life affecting you? You've been on the same teams as him for years, he's been like a brother to all of us for years, but now you're hazing him for being himself, why? Well I'd guess it's because you're scared." I say before getting punched in the face.

"I ain't scared." Blake says, while I'm rubbing my cheek, I turn head to the side a little, and whisper to Justin to leave so he doesn't get in trouble, and he nods, and he walks out, and its as if none of them notice

"You could've fooled me." I say, as I turn my attention back to my three teammates standing in front of me and then he swings at me again, but I dodge his fist, and punch him a few times before we're broken up by our coaches. We're all taken to the principal's office, and our parents are called. The four of us get suspended from school for three days and we're suspended from our next three baseball games. My mom grounds me for a month, for getting suspended, but she takes off two weeks when I tell her why we got in the fight, and she lets me wait for Erin to get out of practice, and she takes Justin home.

"Mom?" I say right before she gets into her car, and she looks at me

"Could you not tell Erin what happened please? I don't want her to get her upset" I ask

"You should tell her." She says before getting into her car. I sit on the trunk of my car, waiting for Erin to get out. I'm only waiting about twenty minutes before I see her walk out of the school, and over to me.

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Erin's POV

I walk out of the school, and see Jay sitting on the trunk of his car. I walk over to him, and I see the cut on his cheek. I stand in front of him, between his legs; my hand automatically going to cup his jaw, and my thumb swipes just below the cut.

"What happened Jay?" I ask

"Nothing." He answers not looking at me, and I bring my other hand up to cup the other side of his face

"Hey babe look at me." I say, and it takes a few moments for his eyes to meet mine

"What happened?" I ask again

"I got into a fight with some of the guys. It's not that big of a deal."

"What was the fight about?"

"Uh Blake got upset that he wasn't starting this week, and started to pick on the guy taking his place, and I stood up for the other guy, and he punched me." He says, looking down again

"Really?" I say not buying his story

"Yup, but uh my mom grounded me for getting suspended so we should probably go." He says hoping off the trunk

"Yeah ok." I say going to passenger side, and getting in, when we're driving out of the parking lot, I ask

"So how long are you suspended for?"

"Three days, and three games." He says dryly

"Oh." Is all I say, and I leave it at that. We sit in silence for the rest of the drive home, and when arrive home, we both get out of the car, and go home. No see you later babes, or quick kisses. It makes me sad that he feels that he has to hide things from me still. I go straight to my room; throwing my backpack on the floor, and I lay down on my bed; pulling my phone out to text Justin

 _Erin- Is it true that Jay got into a fight with Blake about this week's starters?_

 _Justin- Yup._ Is all he replies with

 _Erin- So you're going to lie to me too?_

 _Justin- We're not lying sis_

 _Erin-I think you are_

 _Justin- Sorry, I don't know what to tell you Erin_

 _Erin-You could tell me the truth!_

I reply to him. After I don't get anything response from him, I get up and pick up my backpack, and start my homework.

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Justin's POV

I don't know what to say to my sister, I want to tell her the truth, but Jay came and told me the story he told her, cause he thinks that she'll freak out, and worry about me if we tell her the truth. So I go along with his plan. But as the next couple days go by, and I see how they're not really talking or being their usual disgustingly cute selves with each other,

"Hey Erin." I say as we're waiting outside the school after our practice on Wednesday.

"Yeah." She says not looking up from her phone in her hands, and I pause thinking of how to say this to her, not knowing how she'll react to us lying to her, or how she'll react to me being the cause of the fight two days ago.

"The fight was because of me." I blurt out, deciding there really wasn't a way to put it lightly

"What?" She asks confused, looking up from her phone

"The fight on Monday it wasn't because of who was starting this week, it was because of me. The team found out, and they had me surrounded in the locker room, and Jay came and defended me, and that's when Blake punched him, Jay told me to leave, and that's when they started fighting. I'm sorry sis, I know we shouldn't have lied to you, but we didn't want you to be upset, or to worry. I was willing to go along with it, but I don't want your relationship to suffer because of it." I say to her, and she puts her phone in pocket, and walks over to me, and gives me a hug

"Thank You." She says before pulling away, and stepping back. But then she smacks me upside my head.

"Ow! What was that for?" I yell

"That was for lying." She's with a wicked smile, and chuckle, and then Jay pulls up, and I gulp, as I look at my sister, who's looking at Jay with the same wicked smile still on her face. She then looks at me, the smile disappearing.

"Can you wait here for a minute, please?"

"Sure, just don't kill him. Or have at him in the car, I still have to ride in there, you know." And she giggles

"I'm not going to kill him Justin, and as for having at him in the car, well you're too late for that."

"Eww gross, Erin are you serious?" I yell as she gets in the car and I think to myself _'I have to find a new ride to school, or wear a haze mat suit to get in that car.'_

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Erin's POV

When I get into the car, I look at Jay, and he fidgets in his seat.

"He told you didn't he?" He asks not looking at me

"Yeah he did."

"I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd…" He starts to say, but I cut him off

"Worry I know, and while I am worried about him, you shouldn't have lied Jay."

"I know, and I'm sorry." He says looking at me with those blue green eyes, and slight pout on his perfect freckled pink lips, and I can't help giggle at how adorable he is, before I lean over the center console, and smack him just like I did Justin

"That was for lying to me." I say before leaning in even closer to join our lips for the first time in days. We kiss for what feels hours, and break apart when our lungs are screaming for air.

"And that was for standing up for him." I say giving him another quick kiss. Justin then opens the back door.

"Alright, I let you guys have your little make up makeout, and I actually considered walking home after you told me that Erin, but now it's starting to rain, so let's go." He says, laying a shirt from his gym bag down on the seat before sitting down, and I laugh as I look back at him

"What'd you tell him?" Jay asks

"He told me not to kill you or have at you when I was getting into the car, and I told him I wasn't going to kill you, and that it was too late for not having at you in the car." I giggle, as he looks at me his eyes darkening, before he looks in the back at my brother

"Yeah sorry about that man." He says as he puts the car in drive, and we head home

"No you're not. I so need to burn these clothes, take a shower, and find a new ride to school." Justin says, causing Jay and I to laugh. We talk about our days on the ride home, and when we pull into the Halstead driveway, Jay parks the car, and grabs my stuff for me. He walks me over to my house, and places my bags right inside the door, and places both of his hands on my hips, pulling my body flush against his.

"I really am sorry babe." He says sincerely

"It's ok babe, just promise not to lie to me again."

"Promise." He says leaning in and kissing me

"I love you." He whispers against my lips

"I love you too." I whisper to him, giving him another kiss

"I have to get home, or my mom will add on to my grounding."

"We can't have that." I giggle

"I'll see you in the morning babe." I say to him giving him one more kiss

"See you." He says letting me go, and I walk into my house. I go upstairs and take a shower, when I get out I do my homework, zoning here and there thinking about how I can't wait for his grounding to be over so we can go back to hanging out. When I finish my work, I write some things in my agenda, and notice that the Spring Fling dance is next week. I'm not usually one for dances, but part of me wants to experience one with Jay, and Spring Fling's aren't as formal, which I like, but I guess we'll just have to go next year, as he'll still be grounded next week.

XXXXXX

 **A/N: Let me know what you think about this chapter. Also Spring Fling dance yah or nah?**


	28. Chapter 27

**A/N: This chapter is rated M, so if that's not your thing, I suggest skipping the end. Otherwise enjoy, and please review. Sorry for any and all mistakes. Thank You.**

 **XXXXXX**

The Fighters Chapter 27

It was Thursday, and Kim came over after school to study for our algebra test tomorrow. We're sitting on my bedroom floor, just about done going over the equations we've learned about over the last two weeks. She gets done writing her cheat sheet before me, so she writes in her agenda, before packing up her books and stuff.

"Are you, and Jay going to the Spring Fling?" She asks

"No, he's still going to be grounded." I say sadly, as I finish writing; closing my book, and doing the same thing she did moments ago, before putting my backpack by my door.

"Oh, are you going?"

"No."

"You should go."

"I'm assuming you're going?"

"Yup." She answers

"Who are you going with?"

"Adam."

"Adam?"

"Ruzek."

"I didn't know you guys were a thing."

"We're not, at least not yet. We've been talking for a few weeks."

"I see, well you should have fun, Adam's been on the same teams as Justin, and Jay for years, he's funny."

"Yeah and cute." She says with a smile

"So is it just you two going or are you going in a group?"

"Your brother and Ollie are going too, so we decided to go with them, and go out to eat before the dance. So it'd be nice to have another girl go with?"

"I don't know Kim, I don't even have a dress to wear."

"Oh come on Erin, I'm sure I have one you can wear. You come over tomorrow after school, and try some on?"

"I think you should go too." Justin all of sudden jumps in, and Kim, and I both jump, unaware that he was standing by my bedroom door.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask him

"I was just getting some more of my stuff to take over to the Halstead's."

"Oh is that why you asked me if dad was home, and then didn't answer me when I text you back."

"Yeah I didn't see his truck, but I know sometimes he puts it in the garage. You really should go with us though sis."

"But I feel weird that I don't have a date."

"Not everyone has a date Erin." Kim says

"I know, but I have a boyfriend, and I feel bad that we'll be out having fun without him."

"Yeah a boyfriend that would want you to go, and have fun, instead of sitting here, by yourself, just because he's grounded, and couldn't go too." Justin answers

"I don't know."

"You have no real excuse not to go, so you're going, you can just ride home with me tomorrow."

"Great. I'll see you two tomorrow, goodnight." Justin says before walking away. Kim's phone buzzes next to her

"My sister's here, I'll see you tomorrow Erin."

"Ok bye." I say, and she's off too

Friday seems to go by rather quickly, and before I know it I'm sitting in Kim's room, as she brings out dress after dress, and then she goes to her sister's room, and brings back about fifteen more dresses, since Kim asked if I could borrow one of hers if I liked it. About twenty dresses later, I try on one that I absolutely love, and decide that I don't want to try on anymore. This was the dress I was going to wear to the dance tomorrow.

XXXXXX

Justin's POV

After leaving our house, I walk back to the Halstead's, and I go to Jay's room. He's sitting at his desk, reading through the book assigned to us today, and jotting down an answer to one of the questions on the sheet for chapter one. I knock on the open door to get his attention.

"Hey man." I say

"Hey what's up?" He answers

"So I just went over to my house to get some more of my stuff, and I helped Kim talk Erin into going to the spring fling dance, but she was hesitant on going because you wouldn't be able to go."

"Ok?" He says confused

"And I was thinking about how we could get you to go, if you wanted to."

"I don't think we'll be able to convince my mom into letting me go, but it's a nice thought Justin." He says turning his attention back to the book in front of him

"Let's just say I could convince her, would you want to go?"

"What'd Erin say?"

"She's going."

"Then if you could convince my mom to let me go, then I'll be there."

"Awesome." I say before going to the guest room, and doing my homework.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

I spent the night at Kim's, and we both wake up at around eleven on Saturday, having stayed up until about three; planning out the day. The first we do is get some breakfast; talking in between spoonful's of Fruity Pebbles.

"So we have about five hours before we're supposed to get picked up by Adam to go to the restaurant before the dance, so once we're done eating, we can go relax for a little bit before we start to get ready."

"Ok." I answer

"Don't sound so excited." She says nudging my arm

"Sorry, I'm just a little tired still."

"I know you're not a morning person, but it's almost noon Erin."

"Yeah, but we were up until three."

"Ok whatever, like I said we can relax for a minute before getting ready." She says, and I just nod

XXXXXX

Those five hours seem to fly by, and soon enough we're getting into Adam's car to drive to the restaurant. When we get there we go to the booth that Ollie, and Justin are already sitting at. We're only there for about ten minutes before we order our food, and I decide to go to the juke box to play some music that we actually like, other than the awful songs that have been playing. I'm looking and flipping through the songs, when a pair of arms wraps around my waist, and my body stiffens.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I'm parked off to the side of the restaurant, waiting for Justin to text me, when Adam, Kim, and Erin arrive. It's not long before he texts

 _Justin- Hey man they just got here._

 _Jay- Alright, I'm just going to wait a little longer._

 _Justin- Ok_

After another ten minutes or so, he texts again

 _Justin-We just ordered our food, and she looked at me confused when I ordered two meals, where are you?_

 _Jay-I'm coming in now_ I text as I get out of the car

 _Justin-She's walking to the juke box now_

I walk in, and I see her standing at the juke box. I've always thought that she was gorgeous, but right now her beauty is just magnified. She's wearing a strapless pastel blue dress, that falls to her about mid-thigh. It's tight around her chest, and her torso, then it flows loosely starting around where her belly button is. The dress has specks of silver sprinkled across the top and fading out towards the bottom. She's wearing matching blue heels, making her a few inches taller. I smile at her as I walk around some of the tables, so I can walk behind her. I wrap my arms around her waist, and I can feel her body stiffen.

"Relax, it's just me." I say in her ear, before placing a kiss to her neck.

"Jay?" She says, and she turns in my arms. "What are you doing here, I thought you were grounded for another few days?"

"Your brother somehow managed to convince my mom into letting me come."

"Oh." She says

"I can go home if you don't want me here though." I say to her; slowly unwrapping my hands from around her petite frame.

"No." She says sternly; giving me a smile, and then she leans in to give me a kiss. "I'm glad she let you come, I'm just surprised."

"Me too." I say to her, before leaning down to give another deep kiss.

"You look amazing by the way." I whisper against her lips

"Thank You." She whispers back; blushing. "You don't look too bad yourself." She says, and starts to lean in again, but my phone buzzes. I take it out of my pocket, and unlock it before going to my messages

 _Justin-Whenever you guys are done making out, you should probably come eat your food, so we can go to the dance._

I let out a chuckle, before showing the message to Erin, and she just shakes her; handing me my phone back, and taking my hand, pulling me in the direction of the booth. We sit down, and eat before we leave to go the school.

The minute we walk into the gym, the cupid shuffle starts, and Erin, Kim, Justin, and Ollie all go to start dancing along with the song; joining the group already crowding the front of the DJ booth. About halfway through the song, Erin, and Kim come, and drag Adam and I into the crowd, not letting go of our hands until we start to dance along. The song ends, and Adam, and I both go to stand off to the side again, but unlike Adam I get pulled back.

"Jay please?" She says, and I look down at her, as she gives me a slight pout. I give her a quick peck

"You're lucky I love you." I whisper against her lips, and I can hear her give me a satisfied hum, even over the slow song which I've never heard before, but I put my hands on her hips, and she puts hers on my shoulders as we start to sway to the music.

"I love you too by the way." She says just after the song ends, I give her a soft smile, her eyes twinkling ever so slightly, as she gives me one back. I give her another kiss, as we walk over to our table at the side of the gym, and she sits down next to Kim.

"I'm going to go get something to drink, do you want some Er?"

"Yes please." She says, and I go out to the hall near the cafeteria where there's a few more tables set up for people to sit at, and then there's a few tables with punch, water and snacks on them. As I'm pouring some punch into two cups for Erin and I, I see someone come, and stand next to me out of the corner of my eye, and they're staring at me. I turn my head to see who it is, when they don't move, and continue to stare.

"Allie." I say when my eyes meet her blue ones. "Why are you just standing there, staring at me?" I ask

"I was just admiring you."

"Ok, well I'm going to go back to the gym now, have a good night Allie." I say; rolling my eyes as I walk away

"She doesn't deserve you Jay." I stop in my tracks at her words. I think about just ignoring her at first, but I irrationally don't ignore it, and turn back around

"You don't even know her."

"I know enough, and I know she's not good enough for you, and you know it."

"You're the one who's been saying that to her? You're the one who's been filling her head with lies?"

"It's the truth."

"No it's not Allie." I say as I let out huff "You know I always knew you were the jealous type. But I still would have never thought that you would stoop so low."

"You think I'm jealous of her?"

"You are, and you should be, because she is the most amazing, caring, fun loving, and beautiful person I have ever met, and I love her. I never loved you Allie, and if either of you wasn't good enough for me, it was you not her." I say, and turn to walk away, and I see Erin standing a few feet away, with a sad smile on her face, I feel like I'm in la la land as I look at her, then all of sudden I'm getting pushed into the wall, and Allie's lips are on mine. I don't move my lips against hers, keeping my lips shut, and my eyes open, as pour the punch that didn't get spilled onto her dress, and she jumps back, and screams. I look over to the where Erin is still standing, and I can't tell what she's feeling, but she slowly walks over to Allie, who's trying to get the punch off of her cream colored dress. She taps her shoulder lightly getting Allie to look up at her, and then she punches her, before walking off. I can hear Allie, whining and crying, and I laugh as I go to follow my girl. She pushes the door open, and practically runs over to my car.

"How long do you think it'll take before she tells?" She asks me as she leans against the side of my car

"I don't know, but maybe we should leave before they come looking for us." I say as I open the passenger door for her. She walks closer to the door

"You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" I ask confused

"I don't know." She answers looking down at the heels hanging from her fingers

"Hey." I say, placing two fingers under her chin, and pushing up gently until our eyes meet "I'm not mad at all, that punch was hot as fuck." I say to her; and the sweet pain in my groin is proof of how it was, I give her a smile before leaning to give her a kiss, but she puts her hands on my chest, and pushes lightly. "What?" I ask confused again.

"She kissed you." She says before getting into the car, and closing the door, and I just stand there, and shake my head; walking over to the driver side door, opening it and getting in.

"I'm sorry babe."

"I'm not mad at you Jay, I'm just not going to kiss you."

"So you're not going to let me kiss you for the rest of the night?

"Not until you wash your mouth out."

"And what am I supposed to wash my mouth out with?"

"We can go to the store, and get something." She says with a devious smile as she buckles her seatbelt, and I do the same. Then I start the car, pulling out of my spot, and leaving the school parking lot, before going to a store. She fumbles through the glove compartment, and center console, as we drive.

"Er, what are you looking for?"

"I uh, I left some lotion in here, a few weeks ago, and I need some for my hands, the soap at school always dries out my skin." She says, as I park the car, and she moves to get out of the car.

"Babe you took that bottle out of the car last week." I say to her, and we give each other a smirk

"Come on I'll grab some, while you get the mouth wash." I say to her, handing her a twenty, and getting out of the car. We go in, and make our purchases, and meet back at the car.

"Here." She says handing me a cap full of mouth wash. I take half of the blue liquid, and swish it around in my mouth, then gargling it, and spitting it out of the car, before repeating the steps. She then hands me a damp paper towel

"What's this?" I ask her

"Peroxide."

"Babe." I say to her sternly

"I don't want to kiss you, and feel like I'm kissing her too."

"Fine." I say as I wipe my lips "There." I say when I get done. "Where to?" I ask her

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

"I don't know." I answer with a shrug of my shoulders

"Do you want to go home?" He asks me with a grin, and I lean over, and run my hand up and down his thigh, before cupping him through his pants, and giving him a gentle squeeze, causing him to moan, and squirm in his seat.

"What do you think?" I whisper in his ear before placing a light kiss to the spot just below his ear. He doesn't say another word, before he's driving out of the parking lot. We drive until we get to the same abandoned lot, from weeks ago when I got into that fight with my dad. As soon as he parks the car I unbuckle my seatbelt, before turning in my seat to unbuckle his. I pepper kisses to the underside of his jaw, and his neck, while I get to work on unbuttoning his light grey dress shirt, once it's open, I run my hand up and down his abs a few times, before popping the button of his dress slacks, and pulling down the zipper, before sliding my hand under the waistband of his boxers, and slowly wrapping my fingers around him. I watch his face as his jaw clenches, and his eyes roll back, his head slamming against the head rest as I starting to pump my hand up and down his shaft. I continue for a few more minutes before I kiss my way down his neck, to his chest, letting my tongue circle his nipple before moving further south. My tongue dips in the lines of his abs, in the same way my fingers did moments ago. Then I'm kissing down the line of hair that leads to my destination. When I reach his boxers, I push them down, his fulling erect member breaking free, and I hear him suck in a breath, as lean down placing a kiss to his tip. I envelope him, and begin to bob my head up and down. One of his hands fists my hair, and the other grips the door.

"Babe." He chokes out, but I just continue "Babe." He says again, a little louder this time, and I release him with an audible pop, and I look at him confused

"What's wrong?" I ask

"Nothing, that was uh, that was amazing, but I want you, I need you." He says reaching over to pull me onto his lap. A moan escapes his lips as he brushes up against my wet panties. He starts to kiss my cheek, jaw, and neck down to my chest. His hands are on my back, and then they're pulling down the zipper of the dress, and unclasping my bra. I move back over to the passenger seat to strip myself of the dress, bra, and panties. I squirm with need as I watch him push his pants, and boxers the rest of the way down his legs, and then he moves to recline, and move the seat back, before pulling me back on top of him. I sit on his thighs, and rub my center against him as we kiss, and he tears open the brand new box of condoms. Once he has one, he tears it open with his teeth, and goes to cover himself, as I look at him. I clench in anticipation of what's to come. Once he's sheathed he grabs my hips, and lifts me effortlessly, before thrusting himself into me hard, and I gasp at the glorious pain of the invasion. He holds my hips still as he continues to thrust up, hard and fast. It's not long before we near the edge together, and when we do, is when he lets me meet him thrust for thrust. It's over all too quickly I think as we whimper each other's names, and I collapse on top of him. We stay in each other's embrace for a while, as he softens inside me.

"Did you really mean all that you said to her?" I ask him, as I trace patterns on his sweaty chest

"Every word Er." He answers, as he running his fingers lightly up and down my back, and I look up at him and smile, giving him a kiss

"I love you." I say to him, before giving him another kiss

"I love you too babe." He replies.


	29. Chapter 28

The Fighters Chapter 28

Three months later

She gets woken up by her dad banging on her bedroom telling her to wake up, and that he's got a surprise for her. She doesn't rush to get up though, and he eventually leaves her be. After about 15 minutes she slowly gets up, and out of her bed, gets dressed, and brushing her hair, before heading down stairs. She walks straight to the kitchen, and gets herself a cup of coffee, then turning to look at her father sitting at the kitchen table.

"Ok so what did you wake me up for?" She asks

"I'm guessing you didn't look in the driveway."

"No why would-" She begins to ask, but then it clicks, and she practically throws her mug in the sink before running outside

"Are you serious?" She screams as she takes in the small black four door car sitting in their driveway next to her dad's truck. He comes walking out, with keys in his hand, and chuckles at her squeals of excitement. It was her sixteenth birthday two days ago, and she passed her driving test yesterday, but he's had this car parked in Olinsky's driveway for a few weeks, and went to pick it up this morning, before he had to head to work.

"Do you like it?" He asks

"Are you kidding? I love it. Thank You so much dad." She says giving him a hug, as she does Mrs. Halstead comes out of her house, and yells a congratulations to her, before getting in her own car, and driving off. When she glances at the Halstead she sees someone standing at the front window, and it doesn't take long for her to see who it is. It's her brother, and he just gives her a sad smile before walking away.

"Wait did you get a car for Justin too?" She turns; asking her dad, but she already knows he didn't. She didn't want to seem ungrateful but her brother deserves a car, more than she does she thinks.

"No, now why don't you take it for a spin, I got to go finish getting ready for work."

"Dad why wouldn't you get him a car too? he's your kid too, and it was his birthday too, he's a star athlete, has a 3.8 GPA, and passed his driving test just like me, he actually deserves one more than me."

"You know why I didn't, and if even you didn't know, I wouldn't have to explain myself to you."

"Well if that's why than here you go." She says handing the keys back "I appreciate it dad, I do but if Justin doesn't get one than I don't want it."

"Erin don't be ridiculous, take the car." He says sternly

"No."

"Fine, then I guess neither of you get a car."

"Fine." She says as she walks off towards the Halstead house.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

I knock on the front door, before opening it and walking in.

"Hello? Jay? Justin?" I say into the hall

"We're in here." Justin answers from the kitchen.

"Hey Justin." I say to him as he's the first one I see. Then Jay is wrapping his arms around me from behind.

"Hey babe." He says into my ear before placing a kiss to my temple.

"Good morning."

"Justin just told me you got a car." He says as I turn in his arms to give a kiss.

"Yeah I did, but I gave it right back to him."

"What why?" They yell at the same time

"Because you deserve a car too, actually you deserve a car way more than me, I even said that to him, and he still wouldn't budge." I say as Jay gives me a kiss on the head before going back to getting himself something to eat before he goes to work.

"Erin you shouldn't have done that."

"It's not right Justin."

"I didn't say it was sis, but you should have kept the car, I plan on going to apply for jobs today, and then I'll just save up for my own car."

"I can do that too."

"Babe you should listen to your brother." Jay says from the behind me, just as he finishes off his bowl of cereal, and I send him a glare, but he ignores it, and pecks my lips. He had just started working at the Racing Rapids Snack Bar right around when school let out for the summer. It was so cute how nervous he was starting his first job, but after the first few days, and getting into the groove of things he relaxed. I also told him, or I guess you could say showed him how hot I found him in the black collared shirt, red shorts, the black and red visor that made up the uniform.

"Well we should probably head out if you still need a ride to Ollie's Justin?" He asks looking at my brother

"Yeah." Justin answers standing up, and putting his phone in his pocket

"I'll see you later sis, and take the damn car." He adds before walking to the front door, and yells that he'll be in the car to Jay.

"I'll see you tonight, right?" He asks

"Yeah." I say as I bend down to pet Leo, whose anxiously rubbing against me this whole time.

"You're such a trader Leo." He says causing me to laugh

"No he's not, he's always loved me more, he'd be a trader if he randomly started liking you more." I tease "Plus I've been the one giving him his walks." I answer; standing up straight, before giving him another kiss.

"I've been a little busy." He says against my lips

"I know, I was just messing with Jay. But you should go otherwise you're going to be late."

"Yeah I do need to go, see you later babe."

"Bye." I say as he gives me another quick peck, and then leaves. After I hear the door close, I tell Leo to get his leash, which he does, and he comes back and drops it at my feet. I pat his head and tell him he's a good boy. I pick up the leash, and attach it to his collar before we leave to go for a walk, like we have every morning for the last month. We're gone for about an hour, before we make it back to the house. I take him to my house, like most days so he's not on his own for too long, while I to do my chores around the house. Once I'm done with my chores, I take a shower, and then grab my laptop, and lay on my bed with Leo at my side. I look up places that are hiring, and even fill out a few applications. At some point, I fall asleep, and get woken up by my phone ringing.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

Once I clock out for the day, I pull out my phone to call Erin, as I walk to my car. It takes a couple rings for her to pick up, and I can tell she was sleeping when she mumbles

"Hello?"

"Hey Er, sorry for waking you."

"It's ok, I probably shouldn't have slept as long as I did anyways. What's up?"

"I just got off, and I'm going to go pick up your brother, but I was wondering if you'd want to come over and watch movies or whatever, cause I'm really tired, but if want to do something else, like go out to eat or go see a movie something we can do-" I ramble, but she chuckles and cuts me off.

"Did I ever tell you how cute you are when ramble?" She teases before saying "I know how tired you are, so staying in and watching movies sounds good to me."

"Cool, I'll be home in like twenty minutes."

"Ok see you then."

"Ok." I say before we hang up

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

After hanging up with Jay, I put my phone on the nightstand by my bed, and properly shut down my laptop. Then I change into some cropped yoga pants, and a tank top before leaving my room with Leo following close behind me. When I get downstairs I notice my dad standing in the driveway with Al, and they're talking over a silver car that looks very similar to one that's supposed to be mine. I put Leo's leash on before walking out the front door, heading over to the Halstead's.

"Hey there's the birthday girl." Al says "Happy belated Birthday kid."

"Thanks Al." I say shyly

"Erin I thought about what you said, and you're right he does deserve a car too, and I'd like you to have a means of transportation, other than Jay. Now we have to go back to work, so here's your keys, and here's your brother's, tell him I said Happy Birthday."

He says

"Thank You dad, but I think maybe you should tell him that yourself." I say gesturing towards Jay's car driving down the block.

"No, I'm good, see you tonight kid." He says before getting in the passenger side of Al's car; they drive off just as Jay is parking the car in their driveway, and I sigh, before walking over to the guys.

"Hey sis." Justin says all cheerfully as he gets out of the car "How was your day?" He contiues as I look at Jay, and I can tell something is off with him, he just gives me a little smirk, but it disappears quickly.

"Uh it was good, how was job hunting?" I answer my brother, deciding I'll talk to Jay in a minute

"Good, was that dad and Al that just left?"

"Yeah, dad said Happy Birthday." I say tossing the keys to his car over to him. "They had to get back to work."

"Are you serious?"

"The silver one is yours." I say, and he comes and gives me a hug, and Jay just takes Leo's leash, and heads inside

"Thank You."

"Don't thank me, I didn't buy you the car."

"Yeah, but you were willing to give up yours, and stood up for me, so thank you."

"I'll always stick up for you Justin." I say, hugging him. He backs away, and I look in the direction that Jay just walked in.

"He wouldn't say what was going on to me, you should go talk to him, I'm going to go show Ollie my car for a little bit." He says before walking over to his car, and he practically squeals as he gets a closer look at the car. I chuckle softly, walking up the stairs, and into the house. I don't find him downstairs, so I go upstairs, and then I hear the shower going, I knock on the door first, before going in; knowing we're the only ones in the house. I take off my clothes before joining him. He turns around, and gives me another sad smirk. I walk closer to him, and he wraps his arms around my waist, and leans his head on my shoulder. I place one of my hands on the back of his head, and the other is on his back, as I place gentle kisses to the side of his face.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I whisper into his ear

"It's nothing."

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it Jay, but it's definitely not nothing." I say to him, and he nods against my shoulder

"You're going to think it's stupid."

"No I won't Jay." I reply, and then there's a few moments of silence before he sighs, and then starts to talk

"At work today there was this little boy, he was probably about seven or eight, and he was there with his grandpa, he let the kid have whatever he wanted, and they looked like they were having a blast and it just made me think about my grandpa, and how much I loved hanging out with him, how much I miss him and then I thought about how my dad will never be that to our kids." He says sadly, and my breath hitches at his words, and I think of what to say.

"See I told you it was nothing, I shouldn't have said anything, it's stupid." He says, when I don't respond right away, and he unwraps his arms from me, and steps back, but take a step towards him, and put one hand on his cheek, and the other rest on his chest.

"It's not stupid Jay, I know how much you miss your grandpa, he'll always be with you, he'll always be a part of you, you're always going to have those memories, and years from now, and I mean years from now, you'll be able to take our kids to your grandpa's cabin, and tell them all about him, and what he taught you. And as far as our kids not having something like that with your dad, they're going to have your mom. And she is one of the most amazing, and caring people I have ever met Jay, and she is going to be that grandma that spoils her grandbabies rotten, and she has enough love in her heart to fill in for multiple people."

I say, not sure if any of that made sense, but I hope made him feel a little better at least, but as I'm thinking about that, he kisses my neck, and then my cheek, before standing up straight, his arms take their precious position around my waist.

"Thanks Er." He says before giving me a kiss, I kiss his chest, before backing away, and letting him clean off from work, and then we get out, and get dressed again before we head downstairs to watch some movies. As we're cuddled up on the couch, and the credits roll through on screen I look up at him, and he turns to look down at me. His eyebrows knitting together as he asks

"What?"

"After watching that movie I was just thinking about how we're not having kids for like twenty years." I say, which causes him to laugh, and his chest rumbles, as I lay my head back down on him, and the next movie starts.

XXXXXX

 **A/N: Another filler chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless. Sorry for any and all mistakes. Please Review. Thanks**


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

It was one of their last days of summer break before their junior year started, so the six of them decided to go to the Cascade Drive In together, well sort of. Each couple had taken their own car, but made sure they were near each other when they parked. Erin was driving, and paid for them to get in while Jay changed the radio station to the one the drive in required they listen to in order to hear the movies. Somehow Erin, and Jay beat Adam, Kim, Ollie, and Justin, so they just sat there and talked. Jay was talking about soccer practice, when Adam and Justin came banging on the trunk on either side of the car, making both of them jump. Both of them rolled down their windows

"What the hell guys?" She says looking at Adam first then Justin who was leaning down on the passenger side

"We wanted to make sure you guys weren't attempting to swallow each other as we were walking up."

"I was just telling Erin about practice today." Jay answers

"Oh well Kim, and Ollie went to get snacks."

"Oooh, I'm going to go get something too. Do you want anything Jay?" She asks

"Yes, may I have some nachos, and some kind of candy, oh and a hot dog please?" He replies politely, pulling his wallet out from his pocket, and handing her money.

"Just some random kind of candy?" She questions, shaking her head as he tries to hand her the money

"Yeah, and here." He says still trying to hand her the money

"No I got it Jay." She answers

"You got the tickets to get in, so I'll get the snacks babe." He says with a soft look in his eyes, pleading her to take the money he's offering

"Fine." She says leaning over to give him a quick kiss, before practically knocking Adam over with the door, causing all of them to chuckle except Adam.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

I make my way over to the concession stand, and I see Kim and Ollie walking towards me, their hands full of an assortment of snacks.

"Are there any snacks left?" I ask with a chuckle as they come to stand in front of me

"Haha, very funny." Kim replies

"You should hurry, the line is moving really fast right now, but it usually doesn't when the park starts to fill up more." Ollie says

"Ok thanks." I say before continuing on to the line. Ollie was right, I seem to have gotten into line just at the right time, because once I have mine and Jay's snacks, I look back at the line, and see how much longer it is. Before I turn back around, I feel a hand firmly grip my bicep, causing me to almost drop my slushy, and Jay's nachos. And then there's hot breath on my ear, and goosebumps erupt throughout my body, as I recognize the smell; the smell of stale beer, cigarettes, and cheap cologne. I freeze, unable to move, or make a peep.

"Hello Erin." He whispers in my ear, I recognize the voice, but it's not who I first thought of, and I find myself letting out a small sigh of relief. It's not Charlie, but his best friend Chase. I yank my arm from him, no longer frozen in fear, and turn to walk away, but he steps in front of me.

"Leave me alone Chase." I snap at him

"Oh come on Erin, I know you want me, that night at the school, even though you were out, you were amazing, and you're body seems to have developed even more since then. And well now that your daddy took Charlie out of the picture, it can be just you and me." He says, and I scuff at him before attempting to leave again, but his hand takes its previous position on my arm.

"Let me go." I say; struggling to free my arm from him, but his grip is too tight, and I pray that someone sees, or that Jay comes looking for me. My wish seems to be granted as a big group comes walking towards us, they're oblivious to the situation but it still causes him to let go, and I manage to get away, and get back to the car.

"I was just about to come looking for you." He says grabbing some of the food from my arms. I try to keep my tears at bay, as images of the hooded figure walking towards me flood my mind, and Chase's words replay, I think _'he was there too, he was the one who knocked me out, and what did he mean my dad took Charlie out of the picture?'_. I sniffle, causing Jay to look at me concerned.

"Hey babe what's wrong?" He starts, as his hands cup both sides of my face.

"Nothing I'm fine." I say trying to avoid his eyes

"No you're not, I can see the tears in your eyes, even while you try to avoid eye contact. What's going on Er?" He says, and tell myself _'damn it, he knows you, he can read you too well Erin, just tell him.'_ But I continue to lie to him instead.

"Nothing Jay, I think I just got something in my eye, it's fine."

"Erin-"

"Shh the movie is starting." I say turning my head in the direction of giant screen in front of us. But then he's turning the radio off, and replacing his hand on my cheek.

"Erin look at me." He commands, and I do as he says "Tell me the truth."

"Jay, I am telling the truth, now can we please enjoy the movies?" I say

"Erin you seem upset." He states

"I'm fine Jay." I snap at him

"Whatever, I know you, and I know that you're not fine. When you're ready to tell me what happened let me know." He says giving up, and turning the radio back on. We watch both movies in complete silence, neither of us saying a word, even during the fifteen minute break between movies. I try to lean into him, but he just shrugs me off. My heartbreaks knowing I've upset him, _'but I can't tell him that I saw Chase, it'll just make him more mad, won't it?'_ I ask myself in my head. We say goodnight to Ollie, Kim, and Adam, before driving home. I park the car in their driveway, before turning it off, and handing him his keys. He just says "Goodnight Er." Before moving to open the door; I think about stopping him but then he gets out of the car, and walks into his house. I sit there briefly before getting out of the car as well, and walking to my own house.

I take a shower to try and calm myself down, before going to bed. I surprisingly fall asleep easily, but the nightmares are back after months of nothing, and I wake up several times throughout the night, before getting up for the day at around 5. I start to do my chores as quietly as possible, trying not to wake my dad, but he gets up anyways; startling me when he walks into the kitchen.

"Good morning kid." He says, as he walks around me to get himself a cup of coffee, which I started brewing when I first got downstairs.

"Morning." I reply, he goes to sit down at the table, allowing me to finish sweeping.

"Is everything ok Erin?" He asks when I come to sit down across from him

"Yeah, everything's ok."

"So there's that nothing triggered the nightmares?" He asks, and I look down at the mug in my hands.

"You heard me?" I ask, and he just nods

"Sorry, but no, nothing triggered them."

"Alright." Is all he says, before standing up; putting his mug in the sink, and then walks back over to the table.

"Well I have to go into work kid, call if you need anything." He says, and I nod, then he leaves.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I get woken up by Leo whining at my bedroom door, I groan as I get up to go let him out, I can only blame myself for giving him water so late last night. As I'm standing outside waiting for Leo to get done, Mr. Voight comes out, and walks over to me.

"Hey did something happen last night, that I should be made aware of?" He asks

"Not that I know of sir."

"She's up cleaning the house right now, I'm guessing because she can't sleep from the nightmares, so if you know something I need to know."

"I swear I don't know, she wouldn't tell me what was wrong, it took her longer to get back from the concession stand than I expected, I was just about to go to look for her when she got back, I could tell something was off, but she just brushed me off." I answer honestly

"Ok, well if you find out anything, you need to tell me. I have to go."

"Ok." I say, as he walks over to his truck, and gets in, then drives off. Once his truck is out of sight, I walk with Leo over to their house, and knock on the door. She doesn't answer, so I walk to the back, and pray that the door is open, which it is, so I walk in.

"Erin?" I say into the kitchen, but she doesn't answer, I bend down to let Leo off of his leash, he runs off, and I follow him. He goes straight up to her room, and when I get there he's lying down on her bed, and she has her head on his back. Her eyes rimmed red, and tears flowing down her face, and onto Leo's fur. I go to kneel on the floor just in front of them, and gently wipe away her tears. After I watch her cry for a few minutes, before I speak

"Babe please talk to me?" I beg, and she lets out a sigh, and I think she's going to say something but she doesn't, at least not for another few minutes. Then she says

"I saw this guy last night, his name is Chase, he was Charlie's best friend." taking another deep breath. "He grabbed my arm, said he was there that night, he was part of the attack, said that even though I was out, I was-" She chokes out before sobs just rack her body. I stand up, and lay behind her, and pull her into me, she turns in my arms; putting her head on my chest, and I place a kiss to her hair as Leo readjusts himself so that his head is laying on her side. I don't know how long she cries into my chest for before her breathing returns to normal, and she's tracing patterns on my abs under my shirt.

"I'm sorry." She whispers

"What are you sorry for?" I ask her, even though I can guess why she's apologizing, as I look down at her face, and wipe away the couple tears that slowly running down her cheeks.

"I should have just told you last night."

"You don't need to apologize, but I thought we agreed to always talk to each other, especially if something is bothering or upsetting us, or when your safety is at risk Erin." I say sternly, and she just nods

"We can't protect you if you don't tell us what's going on."

"We?" She questions

"Yeah we, as in Leo and I." I say which earns me the smile, and laugh I was looking for.

"But seriously Erin, please just promise me you'll tell someone if something like this happens again."

"I promise." She mumbles into my chest, and I cup her jaw, lifting her face, so I can hear her more clearly, and she repeats the words, before she leans in to give me a kiss.

"What time is it?" She asks against my lips, then turning around to grab her phone, and look at the time, and I look over her shoulder to see the time too.

"We should probably get ready for work, and practice." She says getting up from the bed, and grabbing clothes for the day and I sit on the edge of it

"Are you sure you want to go work, and volleyball today?" I ask, knowing she's still a bit off from last night.

"Yeah, they'll be good distractions." She answers

"Ok well I guess I should go so we can get ready." I say to her.

"Or you could just take a shower here, with me." She says, with the sad look still on her face, which has me almost giving in.

"You know how much I love showering with you, but you also know that would probably result in both of us being late, so as tempting as it is, I think it'd be best if we shower separately today, babe."

"Yeah you're right." She says, walking back over to me; pecking my lips a few times before whispering "Maybe we can shower together tonight." With a hint of a smile on her lips

"Oh definitely." I answer, as she makes her way into her bathroom, closing the door behind her. I go downstairs, and grab Leo's leash off the kitchen table before calling him down, and leaving their house. When we get home, I'm sure to update her dad on what she told me, and he says "Thanks kid." Before he hangs up. I get ready, and then go into work, and then soccer practice. I end the day with shower, with my girl. A few days go by, and Mr. Voight gets Chase somehow, and tells us that he's getting put away for very very long time, on what charges we don't know, but it doesn't really matter to me as long as Erin is safe from him. She still has nightmares for months after that, and some have her calling me in the middle of the night just to talk, or to come over, and cuddle (with our parents approval of course), eventually they don't happen as often, and they seem to be a little milder, at least that's what she tells me, but I know she'll be carrying this with her for long time, and I plan to be here for her to help her carry some of it, if she needs me to.

XXXXXX

 **A/N: Just a heads up that the next chapter will have a time jump of two years, I'll be skipping to just after their graduation. To the one guest, I've had the next chapter written in my head since I started this fic, and that is a part of it, so stayed tuned. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please leave me your thoughts. If you don't like it, I again don't want to hear it, just unfollow, or unfavorite it, and be on your way, it's really that simple, thanks. Happy CPD day.**


	31. Chapter 30

**A/N: So I was originally going to have this be the last chapter, but I was convinced to add a few more chapters. I have a lot going, not that any of you care. But I apologize for any and all mistakes (also this was written on my phone). The time lines for Jay's training may be a little inaccurate, but I did some research, and most of it didn't give me exact time frames, but I hope it makes sense. As always I hope you enjoy it, if you don't, again keep it to yourself, and please leave me your thoughts if you do like it.**

 **XXXXXX**

The Fighters Chapter 30

Two years later

Erin's POV

Just days after our graduation, we have to say goodbye to Jay as he heads off to Basic Training, and then Ranger School, and some other kinds of training, so we don't even know how long he'll be gone for. His recruiter said Jay's training time can vary in length depending on what exactly he's looking for, but he said it'll be a minimum of six months before he can come home to visit. I try my best to blink back my tears, telling myself this has been a dream of his for a while now, as he takes his time saying bye to Justin, Will, and his mom. Then he gets to me, and he gives me a sad smile, and that's when the dam breaks, and I cant hold back my tears anymore .

"This is all came too fast, I wish I had more time with you Er." He whispers in my ear, as one of his hands comes to the back on my head.

"Hopefully this time apart will go by just as fast." I say, smiling; I think back to last night when we gave each other a proper goodbye.

"I hope so." He says giving another grin, surely he's thinking of the same thing as me.

"Now boarding flight number 6707." Comes through the speaker.

"That's me." He says sadly, and I just nod, as new batch of tears start trailing down my face. He cups my cheek, and wipes my tears with the pad of his thumb

"I love you." He says, and my heart sinks thinking this will be the last I hear him say that for at least the three months of basic training.

"I love you too." I say to him, as he leans in to give me a kiss.

"I'm gonna miss you." We say at the same time as we break our kiss. This time I lean in and give him a kiss before his row is called, and I'm forced to let him pull away. I stand there frozen for minutes after the flight has finished boarding. His mom comes up behind me, and pulls me into a side hug, and I lean my head on her shoulder.

"He'll be home before you know it." She says as we begin to walk away.

XXXXXX

I was hoping that it would get easier, that I would adjust to not having him here everyday. But its been two months since we said goodbye at the airport, two months since I've looked into his blue green eyes, or kissed his lips. Two months of missing him. With only one ten second phone call, to break up the time, ten seconds because that was all that was allowed. Kim, and Justin have helped keep me distracted. And today Kim is coming over just to hang out since we both have off work. I get broken from my thoughts, when the front door of our house swings open.

"Erin?" Kim yells.

"In the kitchen." I respond

"Hey." She says as she walks into the kitchen.

"Hey."

"How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing ok actually, how about you?"

"Good, umm do you have tampons? I forgot to grab some before I left my house." She asks

"Yeah. I bought some after my last period, do you need one now?" I say.

"No, I was just making sure, you had some, otherwise I would go get some now."

"Oh ok, well I'm just going to finish this, and then we can go up to my room." I reply; drinking the rest of coffee, and cleaning out the mug, and setting it in the sink to dry. We walk upstairs, and to my bedroom. I go into my bathroom, and open the brand new box of tampons.

XXXXXX

Kim's POV

I sit down in Erin's computer chair when she steps into her bathroom. She's only in there for a few minutes when she comes out, her face is drained of all color.

"Erin are you feeling ok, you look really pale." I ask her as I go to stand in front of her

"Kim what date is it?" She asks me, and I find myself wondering why she needs the date.

"Umm…" I say looking down at my phone. "It's the twelfth, August twelfth. Why?"

"Oh my god." She says her face seemingly getting even paler.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I'm late." She answers

"Oh."

"What the fuck am I going to do Kim? I start college in a week, and my boyfriend is away for basic training. I can't have a baby." She says surprisingly calmly; as she starts to pace.

"Ok maybe you're not pregnant, maybe its just stress." I say; placing my hands on her shoulders to get her to stop pacing.

"We'll go get some tests right now, but it could be nothing Erin." I say sternly.

"You're right it could just be stress." She says with tears in her eyes.

"Right, so let's go."

"Ok." She says quietly; trying to hide the fact that she's scared.

"Hey it's going to be ok." I say to her, as she grabs her phone, and we head downstairs to get my keys, and then we leave for the store. The car ride is silent, as is the trip inside the store to buy the tests. We get back to her house, and she takes a deep breath as she sets the tests on the kitchen counter.

"I have to go take Leo for a walk do you want to come?"

"Aren't you..?" I begin to ask but she cuts me off

"I'll take them when we get back, I forgot to take him earlier, and I don't know if I'll be up to walking him after seeing the results."

"Yeah, ok I'll come with you." I answer, just going along with what she wants to do. She nods and walks out the door; holding it open for me. We walk over to the Halstead's, and are quickly greeted by a very excited Leo. She gets his leash and attaches it to his collar before we leave. The walk lasts for about an hour, and then we take Leo home, and give him food and water before going back to her house. When Erin and I come out of the Halstead's house, we see her dad's truck parked in their driveway. Her eyes widen, most likely thinking about the tests we left sitting on the kitchen counter.

"He's going to kill me." She says with a shaky breath.

"Maybe he didn't see them."

"But what if he did?"

"I'd say you could say they were mine, but if you are, he's going to figure it out eventually Erin."

"You're right." She says after a few minutes. "I guess I just have to face the music, hey?" She asks with tears in her eyes again, as she looks up at me. I only nod in response.

"Do you want me to wait out here for you for a little bit?" I ask her

"Please?" She answers with a nod, before walking towards her house. I go to sit on the hood of my car, as I wait for her.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

As soon as I walk through the back door, I know he saw them based on the death glare he's giving me.

"Want to tell who the hell these belong to? Because they better not belong to you."

"Dad I…they are mine." I say nervously looking down at the ground.

"Damn it Erin what the hell is wrong with you? You're 18 years old, you start college in a week, you've got your whole life ahead of you." He yells causing me to flinch with every word.

"You don't think I know that Dad. You don't think I'm freaking out at the possibility of being pregnant…" I yell back

"What are you going to do if you are?"

"I'm keeping my baby, if that's what you mean."

"I thought you were smarter than this Erin, I thought I raised you better. What'd we do to get such disappointments for kids."

"This is ridiculous, I don't even know if I am or not." I yell; snatching the tests off the table.

"You're not doing it here."

"What?"

"You can take them somewhere else, but I want you out. And I don't want you to come back unless you get rid of it or you're…." He says as I walk out of the back door. I get outside just as Mrs. Halstead is pulling up, and Kim is sitting on the hood of her car.

"Hey Erin is everything ok?" Mrs. Halstead asks as she gets out of her car.

I think about lying; telling her everything's fine, but I know she won't buy it, especially as tears stream down my face. I shake my head as I walk over to where she stands by her car. Faintly registering the sound of Kim's feet hitting the ground as she jumps off of her car to follow me. Once I get to her, she wraps her arms around me in a warm hug. She steps back, and gives me a sad smile, before gesturing towards her house. We all walk into the house, and towards the kitchen.

"So what's going on?" His mom asks me. I look at Kim before looking back at her.

"I'm…I'm late." I stutter. She takes a few deep breathes, undeniably shocked.

"Ok." She says; letting out another shaky deep breath.

"And my dad just kicked me out after I left the box of pregnancy tests on the kitchen counter while we took Leo for a walk."

"Alright well first we need to know if you are or aren't so you need to take the tests. Do you need something to drink?" She says and asks calmly.

"No, thank you."

"Ok then, you know where the bathroom is." She says a little more sternly. I take two of the tests; replacing the caps; putting them on the sink, and setting the timer. I open the door, to Kim standing nervously in the hall.

"I don't know what I'm going to do if I am, I have no where to go Kim." I say, becoming increasingly more anxious as the minutes drag by.

"You'll stay here, in Jay's room." His mom says from behind me.

"No I don't want to be a burden."

"Nonsense Erin, pregnant or not, you're family."

"So you're not mad?"

"I never said that. I'm mad that you two didn't use protection, and upset about possibly becoming a grandma at such a young age." She says with a chuckle, and Kim chuckles too, but I just give them a small smile, and then the timer goes off.

"Do you want us to stay here?" She asks, as I turn off the timer.

"No." I answer my voice shaking

We all walk into the bathroom, and I pick up one of the tests.

It's positive. I say in my head before saying it again out loud.

"It's not ideal, but you'll never hear me say that he or she is a mistake, or an accident. I do wish however, that this little miracle could have come about when you two were older, and out of college, they are a blessing nonetheless." His mom says calmly, rubbing my upper back, as if to try to calm me, as I continue to stare down at the test in my hand.

"Are you ok Erin?" Kim asks, and even though I hear her. I can't seem to respond.

"Erin?" Mrs. Halstead, her voice laced with concern.

"I um. I think I just need to lay down. Are you sure its ok if I stay here?" I answer, and ask.

"It's more than ok." She replies

"Thank You, I'll look into apartments tonight."

"We'll talk more about that later." She says; checking my forehead with the back of her hand. "Right now I think you should go lay down, you're looking really pale, and you're feeling a little clammy." She finishes; turning me around, and giving me a gentle push towards Jay's room. Once I get to his door, I place my hand on the knob, before turning my head to the side to look at Kim.

"Thank You for being here today, and I'm sorry." I say

"Don't be sorry, what are best friends for?" She says, and then I turn the door knob and enter his room. I take a few steps in before stopping; closing my eyes and inhaling his scent. I take the remaining steps to his bed, and lay down. Leo comes in almost cautiously, and stands at the side of the bed, I pat the spot next to me and he jumps up on the bed. He lays down, and places his head on my stomach. I pet his head, thinking about the little being currently growing inside of me. A baby that's half me and half Jay. Jay. How is he going to react? I know he wants kids, but I don't think he meant now. I wasn't kidding two years ago, when I said we weren't having kids for twenty years. But here we are or here I am. Pregnant. Pregnant with a baby that'll be born during my first year of college. Or is that even an option now? Will I be able to juggle work, college, and a baby? Will I be able to handle it all? Maybe I should wait a year or two to go to school. Where are we going to live? We can't stay here and burden Mrs. Halstead.' So many thoughts ran through my head, as I process this. I close my eyes; turning my head, and breath in his scent again. I take several deep calming breaths, then slowly I drift off.

XXXXXX

Mrs. Halstead's POV

Kim and I walk downstairs, and to the kitchen.

"She's going to be ok, right?"

"Finding out you're pregnant is scary enough for women who are older; planning for it, and have the father there with them. So I'm sure she's terrified, but she'll be ok."

"Ok. Well I'm going to go home. Tell Erin bye for me?"

"Will do sweetheart, bye Kim." I say as she exits my house. I grab a glass, and fill it with water before going up to Jay's room to check on Erin. The door's open when I get to room, and I find her asleep. I place the glass on the nightstand, and leave her be. When I get downstairs I decide to go talk to Hank. I walk over to his house, and knock on the door. I'm not waiting long before he opens it, and sighs.

"What is wrong with you?" I ask getting straight to the point.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you think this is what Camille would have wanted Hank? For you to kick both of your children out of your house, when they needed your support the most?"

"You support teenage pregnancy?"

"No, but there's nothing that can be done now. And like I said to Erin, I refuse to think of their baby, our grandchild as a mistake or an accident. Are they young? Yes, but they're strong, and they'll be amazing parents."

"I don't want anything to do with it, and you shouldn't either. You should let her face the consequences of her actions."

"Now is not the time for tough love Hank."

"Why not? Maybe if we practiced it a little more before, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"You should be ashamed of yourself."

He just lets out a huff.

"I'm not going to try and change your mind, cause you're as stubborn as a mule, but I'd like to get some of her things." I say, and he opens the door wider allowing me to walk in. He points upstairs, as he walks to go sit on the couch. I go into her room, and look around, trying to find some bags. I spot a tote, and backpack hanging on the back of her bedroom door. I grab them, and make my way to her dresser, before making my way to her closet in search for another bag, I find a suitcase, and pack it full before exiting the room; walking downstairs and leaving the house. Once at home, I take her things to what is now their room. She's still sleeping, so I just leave the bags near the door, and go back downstairs to make us some food.

XXXXXX

Erin's POV

The last fours months since finding out I was pregnant have seemed to have gone by both slowly and quickly. College is going ok, even with battling morning sickness until two months into my second trimester, and more recently the frequent trips to the restroom. Jay's mom has helped me a lot. She's taken me to every doctor's appointment, and given me great tips on what foods to eat since the baby is measuring quite small for month seven. I've decided not to tell Jay until he gets back in just over a week. I'm so excited for him to be home, even if just for a little bit. But I'm nervous about him finding out. I think before refocusing on my book in front of me. I study for another few hours or at least try to study, even though its Saturday and my exam is on Tuesday. Once I'm done studying for the night, I go to take a shower. Getting dressed in t shirt of Jays, and pair of new sweatpants, I then go to lay down. I fall asleep for a few hours only getting up to pee, and then immediately laying back down. When I get up for the day around 6. I decide to make breakfast for and Justin who spent the night last night, even though he has an apartment with Ollie. Once I'm done making the food, I go back up to our room; grabbing some clothes before going to take a shower. Leo following close behind me. He's gotten extremely protective over the last few months, only allowing Jay's mom to come near me, without him growling or snarling at her. When I get out I go to lay back down, and turn on the TV. I end up falling back to sleep, with Leo's head resting on my belly.

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Jay's POV

I'm so excited to be home for a few months, I've missed home, and everyone, especially Erin. I told her I'd be home next week, but I wanted to surprise her. When I get off the plane, I look around to see if there are any familiar faces. When I don't see anyone I know, I continue to walk, and call a cab on my way to front door of the airport. I get outside, and see Justin leaning up against his car.

"I just booked a cab man." I say to him as I walk up to the car.

"Well you should cancel it, unless you'd prefer to take a cab."

"Nah I'll cancel it."

"It's good to see you man." He says patting my shoulder.

"It's good to see you too, and it's good to be home."

"You don't have to lie to me, I know you're just excited to see my sister." He says with a smile, as he climbs into the drivers seat, and I just smile in return. We talk on the drive home, about basic training, school, and Justin getting an apartment with Ollie. And soon enough we're pulling into the driveway of my mom's house. He takes the keys out of the ignition, and is about to open the door, but I stop him.

"Wait Justin." I say, and he turns to look at me.

"Do you think she'll like this?" I ask taking the ring box out of my pack.

"Are you kidding?" He asks with a huge smile.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about her, and if I get stationed in another state, I want her to be with me."

"I think she'll love it man." He answers, as I put it in my pocket. We both get out of the car, and walk to and in the house. My mom walks over to me quickly wrapping me a tight hug, and whispers

"I'm so glad you're home."

"I'm glad to be home. Why are we whispering?"

"Erin's sleeping upstairs."

"Wait why is she here?" I say excitedly, looking at my mom, and Justin.

"I guess you'll find out." Justin answers with a smile. I turn to leave the kitchen, but my mom grabs my arm.

"Why don't you have some breakfast, and let her sleep?" She says to me

"Mom I want to see her, I'll try not to wake her." I say, and she nods and lets me go. I walk upstairs, and quickly go to my room. I open the door, and see her laying in my bed, with her back to me, her hair fanned out behind her, and it seems she has let it grow out, it's a few inches longer, as it hangs off the edge of the bed. She's wearing one of my soccer shirts, and its riding up her back, exposing a small strip of skin. I take a few tentative steps forward, and then stop when Leo starts growling at me.

"Leo shh its me buddy." I whisper; taking off my hat, and taking another step closer, but he just growls louder.

"Leo its alright." I whisper again, as he starts snarling at me. I take a step back, and that's when I hear her voice, all groggy with sleep.

"Leo calm down." She says petting his head. She obviously didn't hear me, as she doesn't turn or even lift her head.

"Apparently he didn't miss me." I say to her, and that's when she jumps up. Turning her body towards me; gripping her chest pillow, and the comforter to her. As she sits there in shock, I take time to drink her in, and I see that her hair isn't all that has changed her face seems a little fuller, and her breasts are bigger, but she's still just as beautiful if not even more so than before. I attempt to walk over to her again, but Leo's not having it.

"Ok what is wrong with him?"

"He's gotten a little protective of me, well of us over the last few months."

"A little? he's acting like he's going to bite me." I say, and I think 'wait, did she just say of us?'

"Us?" I ask, and she bites her bottom lip, and nods, before uncovering her stomach. My eyes go wide as I take in the bump that is revealed. She's pregnant? My girl's pregnant.

"Us." She says, and I want to hold and kiss her but I'm reminded that I can't when Leo growls again.

"Can you put him in the hall please?" I ask, and she just gets up not saying a word as she walks to the hall, tells Leo to stay, and closes the door. He sniffs at the bottom, and whines as she walks over to me quickly. I cup her face, and give her a kiss, which quickly gets deepened. My hands fall to her belly at some point, she moves one of my hands over a little, and I feel movement under my palm. She giggles into our kiss before pulling away.

"Little peanut is excited to see you." She whispers against my lips, with a smile that I'm sure matches my own.

"I thought you weren't due back until next week." She states

"I wanted to surprise you, but I guess you were planning to surprise me too."

"Are you ok with this?" She asks, placing her hand over mine on her belly.

"Are you kidding babe? This is amazing." I say to her as I look down at where our baby is growing inside of her.

"Yeah." She says not too convincingly

"You're not excited?"

"Of course I am Jay, but I'm terrified too. We're young, and I'm sure you have to go back at some point." She says, as I just continue to look down.

"Lets just focus on the now babe, we can discuss that later. I missed you, and I could really go for a good cuddle with you and both of you." I say even though I know how corny it sounds.

"Fine, but I'm getting some of the breakfast I made first." she says pecking my lips, and walking out of the room. We go down to the kitchen, and grab some food before going back upstairs. We lay down, and I spoon her, resting my hand on her bump.

"When do we get to meet this little peanut?" I ask

"My due dates in seven weeks."

"Wow."

"Wow what?"

"That's so soon."

"Are you still going to be here?" She asks sadly.

"I'm here for at least four months."

"Then where?" She asks sadly, turning in my arms to bury her face in the crook of my neck. I gulp thinking of how to answer her.

"Jay?"

"They haven't told me yet." I say kind of agitated.

"Well when are they going to tell you?"

"I don't know Erin." I snap.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I just got home, and found out you're seven months pregnant, its not exactly something that should just be thrown at someone, and I'm trying to be happy and excited about it, but all you're focused on is what's going to happen four months from now." I say immediately regretting the words, the minute they leave my mouth, and she pulls away to get out of the bed.

"Trying? You shouldn't have to try Jay. You don't want this, that's fine, I'll go. I'm sorry, it was selfish of me to keep this from you, and I get that this is too much." She says quietly with a hint of anger, but I can see the sadness in her eyes. I try get the words out the I'm sorry, the I love you, and the baby, but they don't come, they get lost somewhere in my throat. And I stay frozen as she walks out of the room; closing the door behind her. The door isnt slammed like it would have been if she were mad, and thats when I know she's more hurt, than she is angry.


	32. Chapter 31

**A/N: Here's the second to last chapter peeps. I hope you all enjoy it. Again if you don't keep it to your damn self. Sorry again for any and all mistakes this whole chapter was written on my phone.**

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Chapter 31

Jay's POV

It takes me a few moments to snap out of it, and go look for her. I open the door, and call out her name. I walk downstairs, and look in the living room, before going to the kitchen, but the only person still there is my mom. She stays standing at the counter with her back to me.

"She left." She says with a broken voice

"Mom, I…" I start but she turns around, and gives a look telling me to shut up, and then one that reminds me of one she'd give me when she's sad, mixed with a little anger.

"She's spent the last four months, going back and forth on whether or not she should tell you during your next phone call, but she didn't, and you could see how much it killed her not to share it with you. Especially when she started getting excited about it. Do you think that was easy for her? Not sharing this with you." She says turning her head, and looking at the little black and white picture on the fridge, a picture I assume is of our baby.

"Then why didn't she?" I ask

She takes a deep breath and looks at me. "I don't know Jay, you'll have to ask her that, but I can tell you that whatever the reason, it was eating her up inside." She answers; sighing again.

"I get it's a lot to take in sweetheart, trust me I'm still adjusting too. But out of all of us she's had to adjust the most, she's the one carrying a child, a child which she didn't create on own, I might add. She's been working her ass off both at school, and work, while pregnant. She's the one that for the last four months she's been living here, has cried herself to sleep every night, from missing you or just the stress of everything, I don't know, but none of this has been easy for her."

"I didn't mean it mom, I just didn't want to think about leaving again, especially after finding out, and I overreacted, and yelled, and I said something I know sounded bad. I am excited, but scared, it is a lot to process, but I didn't think how hard it would be on her." I ramble to her.

"Yeah well you don't seem to think at all when it comes to her." She says walking towards me, and smacking the back of my head, obviously not talking about my poor word choice. She gives a small smile before giving me one of her warm hugs.

"She went to Justin and Ollie's." She says as she unwraps her arms from me.

"Thanks." I say, grabbing my keys off the hook by the door, and walking out of the house. As soon as I get to my car I'm turning around, and walking back into our house.

"I just realized I have no idea where Justin and Ollie's apartment is." I state as I walk through the door. She laughs, and tells me their address, so I can type it into my phone to get directions.

"Thanks again mom." I say before walking out again.

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Erin's POV

"You can go lay down in our room if you want sis." Justin says as we walk through the door of their one bedroom apartment.

"I'm ok, thanks Justin, I'm not really tired." I reply

"You're not tired?" He says giving a questioning look.

"Ok I am always tired but I don't think I'll be able to sleep right now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I just need to give him space. If he doesn't want this then I'll look into getting an apartment near school." I reply, not being able to stop my voice from cracking. I don't blame him, he didn't know because I wouldn't tell him. It was selfish, I know that now, I just I wanted him home as soon as possible, and I didn't want to distract him from finishing his training.

"Erin?" Justin says waving his hand in my face.

"Sorry did you say something?"

"Yeah I said I'm sure he'll want my little niece. He..."

"Or nephew." I cut in

"Whatever. Boy or girl I'm sure he just needs time to think. He loves you Erin."

"I don't know, I fucked up Justin, I should have just told him."

"Maybe, but you can't change it now Erin, knowing Jay he's probably not even mad. Why don't you just lay down, and try to relax."

"Yeah." I say as I walk to the couch. I'm only sitting down for about 10 minutes when there's a knock at the door. I go to stand up, but Justin comes out of the kitchen.

"I got it sis, just stay put." He says as he walks to the front of the apartment.

"Hey man." He says when he opens the door, and then I hear Jay's voice.

"Hey." He replies, before asking "Can I see her?"

Justin keeps the door open, but looks over at me, I wait a few seconds, before nodding my head. He steps to the side and opens the door a little further; allowing Jay to come in. He walks in; his head down, and his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

"I'm just gonna go get some food for us, give you guys some time." Justin says; grabbing his keys off the coffee table and then he leaves.

"Hey." He says quietly

I greet him with "I'm sorry." And I already feeling a lump forming in my throat, and tears gathering in my eyes.

"I understand why you're upset, and I'm sorry for not telling you before you got home, I know now how selfish it was."

"So why didn't you?"

"I was going to so many times, like after your mom took me to the first ultrasound, or when we came down after your basic training. I just wanted you home."

"And you thought keeping this from me would bring me home quicker? What if I hadn't come until three months from now Erin? Would you have still not told me until I was home? Would I have been meeting a newborn at that time?" He says raising his voice with every other word.

"Yes."

"Yes?" He yells as he starts pacing.

"So you kept this from me because you thought I'd be home sooner? Or you wouldn't have told me until I was home regardless of when?"

"No."

"Which is it Erin yes or no?"

"I don't know."

"Well when you figure it out let me know." He yells turning towards the door.

"I thought if..." I yell, as tears stream down my face. He stops in his tracks but doesn't move to turn around just stays facing the door, both of his hands rubbing his temples.

"I thought that if I told you, after the initial shock that maybe you'd be just as excited as I've gotten, and you'd want this just as much as I do now. And I thought that if you did that maybe you'd get distracted and not finish your dream of becoming a Ranger."

"I am happy about this Erin. I just wish you would have told me."

"I didn't want you to resent the baby" I say before I take deep breath, thinking ' _or me'_ , I wipe my wet cheek, as I continue "if you didn't get to where you wanted to be."

"I wouldn't have." He says coldly

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, I didn't mean to make it seem as if I have to try to be excited, I really am happy." He says walking over to me, he comes to stand in front of me, and his hands come to cup my cheeks, he uses the pads of his thumbs to wipe away my tears, he leans in and presses the softest of kisses to my forehead. "I think maybe we both just need some time, and I have somethings to figure out. " He says before turning to walk to the door, and then he's gone. After a couple seconds, I collapse back onto the couch. _'What does that mean?'_ I think to myself; tears continue down my cheeks, and at some point I bring my legs up to curl to the side of me, and cuddle a pillow into my chest; crying into the somewhat coarse grey fabric. I don't know how long I'm sitting there like that before Justin comes back in.

"Hey sis, where's Jay? I got some pizzas for us."

"He..He said we both just need time, and that he has somethings to figure out." I say with shaking.

"Is that what you want?" He asks

"No, but after not telling him, if he wants time to process it, or figure things out, I don't have any right to deny him that." I say, a fresh batch of tears make their way down my face. Justin puts the food on the counter and walks over to me and envelops me in a hug.

"If you need to stay here you know you can."

"Thanks Justin." I say to him just as Ollie gets home. They talk about their days as if I'm not there, and I guess to a degree I'm not, I'm lost my thoughts.

Hours later, after Justin and Ollie say goodnight. I toss and turn on the couch, before deciding that sleep is not coming tonight. Justin went to get some of my books and some clothes for me after we ate, so I decide to try and study. It seemingly works in distracting me for a few hours, and then I end up falling asleep. I wake up just a couple hours later with my book still open, and sitting on my chest. I get up, and set out to make breakfast since my first class isn't until eight and its six now. I look through the fridge than the cabinets, and decide on making French toast.

I get all of the ingredients out on the counter, and then realize I didn't grab the flour. I look through the cabinets again to find where I had seen it before. I find the blue and white bag in the second cabinet, all the way at the top, I look around for something to stand on to get the last ingredient, and settle on one of the stools by the small breakfast bar that substitutes a table in the little kitchen. I grab one and place it where I need it. Once I stand on it, and I think I'm steady, the stool begins to wobble, before giving out, as if someone kicked it out from under me. And it feels like I fall in slow motion, I try to put my arms out to try and prevent my belly, my unborn baby from hitting the ground, and I pray that my efforts were enough to protect him, as I hear Justin and Ollie yelling and everything goes black.

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 **A/N: Please Review.**


	33. Chapter 32

**A/N: Sorry for any and all mistakes, or inaccuracies. This was once again written on my phone, but I hope it's good. This is the last chapter.**

 **XXXXXX**

Jay's POV

I felt terrible leaving the apartment without her, but I do think we need time, I think as I drive to the house. Than I pulled into our driveway, and saw her dad grabbing some bags out of his car. It was then that I realize I shouldn't be pushing her away, and I decide to go talk to him. I'm only there for maybe 5 minutes, before I'm leaving; my hearts racing as what I said to him is on repeat in my head. I go inside our house, go straight upstairs, and I take a shower.

I pull on a pair of sweatpants after drying off, and then I go to lay down on my bed. I take a deep breath; her scent wafting my nostrils instantly. I turn to the side; burying the left side of my face into the pillow. I pull open the drawer of my nightstand, and withdraw the small velvet box that I had put in there before I took a shower. I open it, and trace the small, soft pillow, holding the ring in place. I hear a knock on the door, and I say

"Come in." Not bothering to put the box away.

"Hey sweetheart." My mom says walking into the room

"Hey."

"What happened?" She says walking towards the bed.

"We apologized, and talked or I guess yelled, and I said we need time, and I have somethings to figure out."

"Is that what you really want?"

"In that moment, yeah."

"What about now?"

"Now I just want her."

"Is that what you needed to figure out?" She asks gesturing towards the ring box.

"I think so."

"Can I see it?" She asks, and I hand it to her.

"Its beautiful." She says as she opens it.

"How long have you had it?" She asks handing it back to me

"Two months."

"So you've really thought about this?"

"Its all I've been able to think about mom, but I'm afraid she's going to say no."

"You had a fight Jay, that doesn't mean she's stopped loving you."

"Yeah." I say, not really wanting to talk about it anymore, and my mom seems to pick up on that somehow; standing up from where she was seated near the foot of my bed.

"Well I just came to tell that I just took dinner out of the oven, so come down when you're ready."

"Thanks mom." I say as she walks out. I just lay there for a little bit before going to eat. We eat in silence, and when we're done I help with the dishes before going back up to my room. I fall asleep rather quickly.

I get woken up in the morning by my mom running into my room.

"Jay get up, we have to go to the hospital."

"What?" I ask getting out of the bed quickly, and grabbing a hoodie to throw on before putting my shoes on.

We rush to the car, my mom still not telling me what's going on. So once she pulls out of the driveway. I ask "What's going on?"

"It's Erin, Jay she fell. Justin called but was so hysterical I couldn't understand anything other than that she was being taken to Med."

I don't say anything in response to that information, I pray that she's ok, that they're both ok. I just stare out in front of me. When we arrive at the hospital we both practically jump out of the car and run inside. We run up to the front desk.

"Maggie where is she?" my mom says panicked.

"They just took her up to surgery for a c section."

"Why does she need c section?" I ask

"Why don't you go find Justin, and I'll explain it to you in a minute." My mom says calmly, I think about arguing, but I want to find Justin to find out what happened.

It doesn't take me long to find Ollie sitting in the waiting room crouched over with his head in his hands, and Justin pacing near the waiting room.

"Justin!" I call out as I approach them

"What happened?" I ask as calmly as possible, to prevent it from seeming like I'm blaming anyone.

"We don't know, she woke up before us, and I guess decided to make breakfast. We were woken up by a loud thud, and we both ran to the kitchen; yelling to her but she was out." Ollie answers, then my mom finds us.

"Did Maggie tell you why she's having a c section?"

"Yes, she said that on the way here Erin started bleeding. Upon arrival they checked Erin, and then performed an ultrasound, and believe that she had suffered an placental abruption."

"What's that mean?" Justin asks

"The fall caused the placenta to detach from her uterus. Meaning the baby's source of oxygen was cut off. And its the cause of the blood loss. If they hadn't taken them to surgery there was risk of losing the baby, or both of them."

"Are they going to be ok?" I ask

"What do you care? They wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't wanted time. Whatever the fuck that means." Justin spits at me.

"Justin." Ollie yells

"No if she had gone back with you last night, maybe she wouldn't be getting her baby taken out of her two months early, and possibly losing him or her." Justin continues

"That's enough, why don't we take a walk." My mom says to Justin.

"No mom he's right it is my fault." I say sadly

"I'm just going to step out." I say as I start to walk away.

XXXXXX

' _Justin's right, they're here, my girl and my baby, our baby are fighting for their lives because of me. If I didn't say we needed time they would have been with me.'_ I think as I walk outside.

I don't know how long for or how many times I walk around the outside of the hospital, before I get back to entrance of the ED we came in. My mom is standing there, tears streaming down her face. My heart seems to stop, expecting the worse as I walk over to her, and stop to stand just a few feet away.

"Mom?"

"She's out of surgery."

"Is she going to be ok?"

"Yeah, they said she has a few minor injuries from the fall and there's always a risk of infection with any surgery, but she should make a full recovery."

"And the baby?" I ask, but afraid to hear the answer, and a feeling I've never felt before takes over my entire being as she takes a while to answer.

"The baby has a good fight ahead of him."

"Can I see them?"

"They're getting Erin set up in a room, and then we can go to her."

"What about the baby?"

"He's in the NICU." She's says, pausing briefly before talking again "How about we go inside, and we can go to the floor they'll be on."

We go inside and go up to the floor of the maternity ward and NICU.

The nurse at the desk in between the maternity ward and the NICU, knows my mom, and asks her what she's doing there, my mom explains, and the nurse tells us where Erin's room is. We go straight there, and walk into the room. Justin, Ollie, and even her dad are sitting or standing around her. The room stays silent as I walk over to her bed. She's still out, and I take her hand in mine. I lean down, and kiss her forehead; just to the side of the bump she has, that is obviously from the fall.

"I'm going to head out, Linda a minute?" Mr. Voight says out of no where.

"Sure." She says turning towards the door, and he gives me a glare as he exits the room.

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Linda's POV

Hank and I walk out of the room, and stop a few feet away from the door.

"Can you just keep me posted on her condition? Justin won't even look at me, otherwise I'd ask him."

"No, and I don't blame Justin, he was, we all were, and still are extremely worried about them, but you don't really care do you? You're off to work."

"Linda she's MY daughter, not yours, and of course I'm worried, why would I have dropped what I was doing and rushed here even though this case is crucial to my career, if I didn't care?"

"You haven't talked to her for over four months but now she's your daughter. She could have died today Hank, her and her son, but yet you're more worried about your career." I say walking back towards the door. He sighs running his hand down his face. When I go back in, I stand next to Ollie at the foot of the hospital bed.

"I'm going to get us some food and drinks." Ollie says after about an hour and a half. Jay and Justin just nod their heads but keep their gazes on the sleeping girl in the bed.

"I'll go with you." I say to him. And I hope that when we leave the two of them will talk.

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Erin's POV

When I start to wake, I keep my eyes closed, not sure if my pounding headache can handle any lights. I listen to the beeping around me, as I go over what I remember last. My hand shoots to my now deflated belly. Then my eyes open wide, and I sit up; regretting the quick movement the minute I throw up, off the side of the bed.

"Good afternoon to you too sis." Justin says sarcastically, but I can hear the sadness in his voice as he backs up a little; having just missed being thrown up on.

"My baby?" I crook out; closing my eyes, and laying back; trying to brace myself for what my brother is going to say, not even realizing Jay was sitting to the other side of me.

"He's just across the hall in the NICU." Jay answers. I open my eyes slowly, and turn my head towards him.

"Is he going to be ok?" I ask

"Mom said he's got a fight ahead of him."

"Just coming to do my rounds, but since you're up I better get the doctor." The blonde nurse says; checking the machines, before leaving assumingly to get the doctor. Sure enough, not even five minutes later Dr. Thompson comes in. She asks Justin and Jay to have a moment with me. They leave reluctantly, and then the doctor goes over everything, from the placental abruption, and the baby.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

When we leave Erin's room, I decide to go see the baby, and Justin follows closely behind me. Then he's walking next to me, and he stops me just as we're about to enter the NICU.

"Hey man I just wanted to apologize, I didn't mean what I said earlier, I was just worried, and looking for someone to blame."

"It's fine Justin, you were right, if she had come back to the house with me, she, they wouldn't be here."

"Don't blame yourself man, it was an accident, and it could have happened anywhere."

"Yeah, well I still feel like I'm at fault."

"Well you're not, and I'm sure they'll both be fine, little man's got Voight and Halstead blood, he's bound to be a little fighter, just like his parents."

"A little fighter." I repeat as we walk through the doors of the NICU.

"I'm sorry gentleman but you aren't allowed in unless you're a parent, or relative of one of the patients." A nurse says

"I-I am." I stutter. "My son is here."

"Oh my apologies, what's your name?"

"Jay Halstead."

"Aww baby Halstead, we work with a lot of babies obviously but your son is one of the cutest we've ever seen." She gushes

"Thanks, can we see him?"

"Oh uh yeah of course, please wash from your hands up to your elbows." She says before allowing us to go in, and show us where he is. When we get to him, he's in this plastic box like crib, with lights shining on him, the nurse explains is for the jaundice, he's also getting oxygen because his lungs are underdeveloped, and he has a feeding tube, since he can't eat properly yet. I pull out my phone and take a picture of him.

"He's so tiny." Justin says standing next to me.

"He's 3 pounds." The nurse says

"Nurse Linda." Another nurse says excitedly behind me, I turn around to see my mom walking over to us.

"I was wondering if you were related." Nurse Kenzie, the one who has been telling us about my son says. My mom laughs

"Yeah Jay's my son, and this little one is my grandson."

"Well I was just informing your son about his condition, I have to check on another patient, but I guess I'll see you around."

"have you touched him yet?" My mom then asks

"No. I didn't know I could."

"That's what these holes on the sides of the isolettes are for." She opens the side, and steps back. I look at the baby inside, all the cords, monitors, and tubes he's hooked up to making him look even more fragile, and little. I put my hand in cautiously, and touch his tiny hand. Tears gather in my eyes. I stand there like that for a while before my mom starts talking again.

"Erin was asking for you, when we got back with the food." She says placing her hand on my shoulder. "We can stay here with him." She adds, I nod at her; taking another look at my son, our son, before withdrawing my hand, and walking out of the room, and over to the maternity ward. I walk into the room, Erin's sleeping again, and Ollie's sitting in the corner.

"She fell asleep pretty much right after we got back, you should eat though."

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry."

"You're not going to be any good to them, if you don't eat something. And she's sleeping right now anyways."

"Fine." I say taking the sandwich

"Thanks." I say when I finish it.

"No problem, I'm going to go get Justin and head out, but we'll be back tomorrow."

"See you then. And thanks again Ollie." He just nods before exiting the room. He closes the door behind him, but a little too hard, as it slams, and Erin jumps.

"Hey, sorry I don't think he meant to do that."

"That's ok." She answers groggily "I wanted to talk to you anyways, but then they told me you were with the baby."

"Yeah." I say pulling out my phone. I bring up the pictures I took of him. I flip the phone over to show her, and she gives me a soft smile, after pulling the cup away from her face; placing the foam cup on the bed table, and taking the phone from my hand.

"He's so little." She says as she starts crying. My hand comes up to cup her cheek, and wipe away her tears.

"He is, apparently the nurses over there think he's one of the cutest ever." I say as she continues to swipe through the pictures.

"I'm sorry Er." I say, and she looks up at me. "I shouldn't have said we needed time, all I needed was you, and now you're here, and our baby is here 7 weeks early."

"Jay."

"and please don't tell me its not my fault, because if you were with me, you wouldn't have been up that early, and you certainly wouldn't have been trying to make breakfast."

"You don't know that."

"Oh but I do, cause I would have been cuddling you or making you breakfast." He says, and I hum approvingly.

"it was an accident Jay, and if anyone is to blame, it's me. Ok? So I'm sorry for doing this to him."

"He's going to be fine." I say leaning closer, pulling her hand up to my lips and placing a kiss on the back of it.

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Erin's POV

"Have you thought of any names? Or are we just calling him baby Halstead?" He asks with a small grin, and I giggle a little

"I have a few."

"I liked Jayden, Cameron, and Ryan." I say but he gives a funny look.

"What's with the funny face? You don't like those?"

"I don't think they fit him."

"What about Elijah?" I say

"I like that, and Ryan for his middle name?" He says

"Elijah Ryan Halstead, I love it." I say, and he stands up; placing one hand to the side of me just above shoulder, and the other cups my jaw. We smile at each other as he leans down to attach our lips. The kiss lasts until our lungs are screaming for air. He presses his forehead to mine.

"Marry me." He whispers against my lips, and my breath hitches.

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

I didn't plan on asking her now, and certainly not here of all places, but it just felt right. She looks stunned, and I feel I should say more, but I get even more nervous. What if she says no? I push that thought out of my head, as I muster up the courage to continue.

"I know this isn't the most ideal, and not even remotely romantic of places to ask you that, and I know we're young. But I love you, and I've known for years that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and start a family with you, do everything with you. And if I get stationed in another state I want you and little Eli to come with me, after you graduate of course." I pause briefly wanting to stop myself from continuing to ramble. "I want you to have the same last name as us, and I want you to be my wife. So Erin Lindsay, will you marry me?" I say as tears once again form in my eyes, she just looks at me, with tears streaming down her face again. There's few moments of silence, and I think of yesterday when I went to talk to her dad.

*Flashback to the day before.*

I _walk up to the front door of the Voight house, and knock. I wait anxiously; wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans. He opens the door with his signature scowl._

" _Halstead." He says, opening the door a little wider, and stepping to the side allowing me to come in._

" _I uh."_

" _I have to say, you got some guts kid, coming here after what you've done."_

" _Yeah, I uh came to ask you for her hand in marriage."_

" _No."_

" _Sir, I came here out of respect-" I start but he cuts me off_

" _I don't give a damn-" He yells, but I yell back; cutting him off in return._

" _I wasn't done. We don't need your permission to get married, but I thought she'd appreciate the thought of me asking you. I love your daughter, and I'm going to marry her regardless of what you say." I say as I walk to the door, and leave._

*End of flashback*

"Yes." She answers quietly.

"Yes?" I ask shocked, and she just nods; still crying, and attempts to sit up a little more, but winces, and falls back against the pillows. I stand up, and lean over her again, she pushes up slightly, and presses her lips to mine.

"I have the ring at the house."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

XXXXXX

A week later Erin gets released from the hospital. And six weeks later, the doctors tell us that we can take Elijah home in a week. We're sitting in Eli's room, and I'm holding him, slowly rocking back and forth in the chair, when he starts getting fussy, and I tense; still not sure what to do sooth him.

"Its ok babe, he's probably just getting hungry." She says, standing next to us.

"Can you get me a bottle please?" I ask her.

"I would love but I'd have to pump first, and I don't know if your son is willing to wait."

"Ok." I say sadly

"I'm sorry." She says adjusting her top as she walks to the rocking chair across from us.

"Don't be."

"I'll pump when he's done, so you can feed him next." She says, as I gently place him in her arms. She winces slightly as he latches on to her nipple a little too eagerly. She settles back in the chair a little more, never taking her eyes off him as he suckles. It's not long before she's giving him back to me, for me to burp him, as she fixes her bra and shirt. After changing him, I place him in the crib. I watch him as his eyes flutter shut, and she comes behind me, and wraps her arms around my waist, and I trace the ring on her finger.

"I want to get married right now." She whispers

"What?" I ask turning around in her arms, and I wrap my arms around her.

"I want to get married before we bring our son home."

"Ok." I say giving her kiss

XXXXXX

Two months later

We're standing in the airport, saying goodbye for the second time in ten months. I'm holding Eli in my arms as I talk to Justin, then my mom, and then Erin, my wife. I'm still not use that, even though we got married two months ago, before we brought Eli home, I still can't believe I get to call her my wife. We give each other a tearful goodbye, even Elijah seems to pick up on our emotions, when he starts to cry. The wail he lets out when I transfer him to his mother's arms, breaks my heart even more, but as always he settles quickly with her holding him tight to her chest. I've spent the last four months memorizing them being perfect together, something to carry with me for the ten months that I'll be deployed in Afghanistan. I wave goodbye one last time, as I walk onto the plane.

XXXXXX

Fours years, and two tours in Afghanistan later

Erin's POV

I stay up waiting for him to get home, until I can't fight sleep anymore. I get up at three, and he's still not home. I go to check on Eli, and see that he's still sound asleep and then go to our room. I'm sitting up in bed for an hour, before I hear the front door of our apartment open, and then close. His unsteady footsteps make their way over to the room, as I lay down, and pretend to be asleep. He plops down on the bed, and sprawls out. His breathing evens out almost immediately after he lays down. With him home, I'm able to fall asleep eventually. I'm not asleep long before I hear a tiny voice

"Mommy?" My little man says from the doorway of our room.

"Hey peanut." I say, and then Jay's arms start flailing around, and he hits me in the chest. I rub the spot, as I get out of the bed, and pick up Eli, before walking to his room.

"What's wrong Eli?" I ask as we settle in his big boy bed.

"I had a bad dream." He says rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sorry peanut, do you want mommy to read a story?" I ask, knowing that usually helps him go back to sleep, but he ignores my question, and asks me something that completely stuns me

"Mommy is daddy a bad guy?"

"No of course not Elijah. Do you think daddy is a bad guy?"

"No I think daddy is a superhero, he catches the bad guys."

"Why would you ask is he was a bad then?" I ask

"Because daddy hit you mommy, and we aren't suppose to hit." He says with his little lisp

"That's right we're aren't supposed to hit, but that was an accident. Daddy's not a bad guy. You know how you have bad dreams?" I say and ask, and he nods he head against my belly, and I run my fingers through his short brown hair.

"Well sometimes grown ups, and even superheroes have nightmares."

"Do you have nightmares?"

"Sometimes."

"I love you mommy." He says randomly, and my heart swells

"I love you too peanut. Now do you want me to read you a story?"

"No daddy needs you to cuddle him, to make him feel better after his bad dream."

"That's sweet baby, but daddy's still sleeping, and you need to go back to sleep." I say knowing he'll be cranky throughout the day if he doesn't get enough sleep. I eventually get him to go back to sleep, and then walk into our room. Jay's still sleeping when I slip in the bed. I decide I'm up for the day when I can't fall back to sleep. I call Jay's mom, and ask if Elijah can stay with her for the weekend, she of course says yes, and we hang up. Elijah comes out about thirty minutes later, rubbing his eyes again.

"Hey peanut do you want to spend the day with grandma?"

"Yeah." he answers excitedly

"Ok, well grandma's making breakfast for you, so get dressed and I'll take you there." I say, and he runs back to his room. He comes back about ten minutes later in jeans and a Henley, carrying Enzo the elephant; looking even more like his father.

"Ready mama."

"Alright lets go." I say grabbing my keys, and taking a glance at our bedroom as we walk out of the apartment.

XXXXXX

I'm only gone for maybe a half hour, and when I get back, I place my keys on the table by the door, and walk further into the apartment. Jay comes walking out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water running down his sculpted chest, and defined abs before disappearing into the towel hanging just below the deep v of his hips. I bite back a moan and remind myself that I'm mad at him.

"Hey babe, aren't you suppose to be at work." He says coyly

"Its Saturday Jay." I say coldly

"Right, so where's Eli?"

"I just dropped him off by your mom."

"Why?"

"So we can talk."

"What about?"

"Are you serious Jay?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb, you didn't come home until four in the fucking morning Jay. With nothing but a text that said that you were going out with the guys on patrol with you. You know how much that worries me, yet you continue to do it every weekend for the last year since getting back. And I have to tuck our son in on those nights while he asks where his daddy is."

"I'm not in the mood for this right now Erin." He says turning around towards our room.

"I don't give a shit what you're in the mood for. We can't keep living like this Jay. I don't know what you went through, and I'll never pretend to, or say I know how to make things better for you. But I'm worried about you, the drinking has got to stop, the nightmares are getting worse, you need help babe. And I want to be here for you, but if you don't want the help you so desperately need, let me know now, so I can start looking for place for Elijah and I." I say as tears trail down my face.

"You can't take him from me."

"I don't want to Jay, he loves you, so much, his daddy is a superhero to him, but I can and I will take him, if you refuse to get help." I say as I walk back over towards the door; picking up my keys again and leaving.

I go to the grocery store, and get something for us to eat, if he's there's when I get back. I walk back into the apartment, not expecting him to sitting in the couch with head in his hands. Leo comes to the kitchen with me, I put the groceries away before walking over to sit on chair across from the couch.

"I'm sorry." He says looking up at me, his eyes rimmed red, and puffy. He looks broken and it has me walking over to him, and pulling him in my arms. He buries he's face into my chest, and I wince when he touches the bruise there.

"I'm sorry." He repeats. "I love you both."

"We love you too babe." I say as he sniffles, and continues to cry. Eventually the tears stop for both of us, and we just lay there; reclined on the couch. I run my fingers through his hair, like I did with Eli this morning, and he's tracing circles on my stomach under my shirt.

"Where'd you get this bruise from?" He asks tracing just around the bruise, before looking up at me.

"Uh Leo jumped on me last night." I say, not wanting to tell him that he gave it to me.

"Really that's not like him." He says

"I know I was surprised." I say and I know he's not buying it.

"Babe?" He says, sitting up. Damn him.

"After you got home last night, you passed out, and I guess you were having another nightmare."

"I hit you?" He asks, giving me a pout.

"It was an accident babe."

"I'm sorry." He says leaning in to place a kiss just to the side of the bruise

"Its ok."

"I'm going to a support group tonight." He says, and I give a smile, leaning in to give him a brief kiss.

"That's great babe, it's a start." I say, and he nods before leaning over me, and giving me a kiss.

XXXXXX

2 years later

Erin's POV

I stand in front of the stove making breakfast when I feel a pair a muscular arms wrap around my waist from behind, his biceps and pecks flex against my back, as he places kisses along my neck.

"Mmm Good morning." I groan at him

"Good morning indeed." He says against my skin. "Why didn't you wake me?" He says before placing another kiss just below my ear.

"You don't get to sleep in very often and everyone isn't due here for another few hours, so I figured I'd let you sleep." I say as I turn the stove off and turn in his arms so were face to face. I stand on the tips of my toes to plant a kiss on his lips.

"You didn't have any nightmares again last night." I say as we pull away.

"I'm sorry." He says sadly

"Why are you sorry? That's a good thing."

"I think talking about them helps, but I don't they'll ever go away completely, and I know how much it worries you, so for that I'm sorry. I never meant to burden you with this." He says looking down, but I quickly cup his jaw, and tilt his face so he's looking at me.

"What you went through and what you carry is real, and you know that if you ever need my help carrying it you just have to ask. Don't ever think you are burdening me with anything. Do you understand me?" I say and he just nods, as I lean in to peck his cheek.

"For better or for worse, right?" He says with a grin; tracing my left ring finger before bringing my hand up to kiss it. Just as my hands falls to his chest, we both turn our heads towards the sound of the little feet of our 6 year old son running towards us, with Leo right beside him.

"Daddy!" He says running into his leg; he picks him up and starts tickling him, causing him to giggle uncontrollably. I smile at them, loving little moments like this.

"Say good morning to mommy." He says laughing.

"Ok ok daddy." He says; trying to get him to stop, his little hands pushing at Jay's large ones.

"Good morning mommy." he says still giggling, before leaning in to give me a kiss.

"Good morning and Happy birthday peanut."

"Is our birthday boy ready for breakfast?" Jay asks as he puts him down.

"I'm starving." He answers dramatically.

"Alright well go wash your hands since you were just petting Leo, and I'll get you a plate." I say to him.

"But mommy I don't want to wash my hands."

XXXXXX

Jay's POV

"Elijah Ryan Halstead, do as you're told, and go wash your hands." I say sternly as I reenter the kitchen after letting Leo out. I see Erin out of the corner of my eye, covering her face trying to hide her smile, as our son gives me one of the cutest pouts ever. He stomps off to the bathroom, and I walk over to where Erin has now turned her attention to fixing a plate for Eli.

"Other than the dimples, he may look like me but the attitude is all you, right down to dramatic I'm starving." I say into her ear, and she just giggles knowing its true.

"And next time I'm being stern with him, could you hide your smile a little better, he's not going to take me seriously if you make me smile." I say as I playfully smack her butt, before she turns around, handing me two plates. I lean in to give her a kiss.

"We'll see." she says as I walk over to the table. We talk about Eli's party in between bites. Once he's done eating he runs into his room, as Erin and I clean up, and finish getting ready for everyone.

Hours later when the party has just started. Everyone is gathered in the living room. Adam is chasing Eli around the couch, and eventually catches him, and his laughter echoes throw the condo. Erin's standing in the kitchen looking out at the living room too, a soft smile on her face. I walk closer to her, and lean down giving her a kiss on the cheek. She hums approvingly. I look down, her eyes meeting mine, she stands on the tips of her toes, and gives me a kiss.

"Thank You." I say as she pulls away.

"For what?" She asks

"Everything. Fighting for me, for this, for us, starting a family, and giving us Eli."

"If it involves you three, I'll fight for it every time babe, and Thank You for fighting for this too." She says, and I lean down attach our lips again, briefly.

"Wait three?"

"Yeah you, Eli, and Leo." She says with a little giggle, and I can't tell if she's being serious.

"I'm kidding babe." She says looking down, and rubs her belly.

"I'm..we're pregnant." She says, and I kiss her, this time longer, and harder. I feel a little tug on my shirt, and I pull away from her.

I look down, and see our very excited son.

"Hey little man."

"Daddy can I open my presents yet?"

"Sure peanut." Erin answers for me, he runs back in the living room. I turn back to her; placing my hands on her still flat stomach.

' _Another little fighter.'_ I think as I give her yet another kiss, before we walk to join our family in the living room.

-The End

XXXXXX

 **A/N: I'd like to say thank you to those of you who have followed along with this story, and reviewed. I hope you guys enjoyed this ending, and I hope you all stay tuned for the two new fics I have in store. Once again if you don't like don't review. Much Love peeps.**


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